One For The Money
by Funny Monster
Summary: Private Military Contractors are possibly the most controversial part about modern warfare. What would happen if they crossed paths with the Hunters and Huntresses of RWBY? This is my first fic and I will try and avoid the standard 'Earth People is Remnant' type story, Please R&R
1. Chapter 1

One For The Money-Chapter 1

Hunters. Huntresses. They carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. Adults who battle for global supremacy and children who have the expectation that they can win wars. They make up the majority of the fighting force against their humanities greatest threat, the Creatures of Grimm. Helping people and saving the day, and never asking for anything else in return. Just like the heroes in the books. But in the real world, the majority of those people on the front lines are not like the heroes in the books.

As of March 13th 2013, members of various Private Military Corporations made up a total of 62% of the total armed forces located in the infamous hotspot, Afghanistan. A country that will always be remembered as one filled with violence, death and destruction. And these PMC's, fit right in.

Private Contractors are slowly but surely taking over combat as a whole. The special thing about a PMC compared to a normal soldier, is the economic differences. Not only are they paid a lot more salary wise, but they have access to technology, equipment and weaponry that is a lot more advanced that the standard issue equipment of, say, the British Royal Marines or the US Army Rangers. However, these PMC's are not loyal to any country or military, and many conflicts will have Contractors fighting on both sides.

With the current global instability, PMC's have done extremely well over the last 25 years. Back then, the image of a soldier on the front lines was a man with the flag of a certain country on his BDU's, fighting for political, global or 'Greater Good' reasons. After 9/11, that changed dramatically. Many PMC's are fuelled not by the greater good, but for personal gain. In fact, the third largest company in the world is a Private Military known as G4S, yet they manage to keep under the radar as well as the massive shadow of Wal-Mart and Foxconn.

Now compare they two warriors, these two types of Soldiers. Hunters, most of which are driven by honour, the desire to help someone and the dream of being heroes. They are allies and are fighting for the people, and the councils that lead them. Private Contractors, most of which are driven by the need for cash, the freedom of warfare with no regulations or being tied down by countries or Government Red-Tape.

Two very different ideologies of two very different universes.

What would happen if they clashed? What would they learn from each other? What would happen if they turned on each other?

And what if one side brought their enemies with them?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

For Kyle, his world was changed for the first time with one sentence.

 _"Son, I want to offer you a second chance"_

His life changed. And in his opinion, it was for the better. He was still a soldier, still fighting on the front lines. But now he truly felt like a brother to the people he was with. And now, he was getting paid more than enough to buy his Mum and Sister out of the lower-class house and into a real home, away from an abusive father, a rough neighbourhood and the constant fear of the people walking past you in the street.

He gave his family freedom. Just like the 'Xavier Assault Recon Corporation' gave him a second chance.

And kind of like how he was about to give this Terrorist twat a nice make-over. He steadied himself and pulled the trigger. The German HK416C silently done the rest, the 'bang' muffled by the long carbon fibre suppressor on the barrel, and sent a 5.56 NATO round straight into the face of the 'bad guy' he was aiming at. The terrorists friend who was standing next to him went to raise his gun and yell, but was stopped as a burst of fire that destroyed his face and neck. They both crumpled on the ground.

"Targets down move up".

Kyle felt a hand on his shoulder and looked towards it. It was his large Irish Squad Mate, known as 'Dunk' gazing dow at him, his other hand holding the MP7A2 that had put down the other terrorist.

"I'm on you Snapper, let's rock".

Kyle grinned and stood up, forcing the tank-stock of the 416 onto the same shoulder being held by his friend. Together they moved up, one covering the other. They moved slightly and effectively over the sandy and dusty ground. They reached the tall stone wall that the terrorists had been leaning against and took their place, their black get-up making them blend in with the shadows. Dunk took his radio from his chest rig and updated the team.

"This is Dunk and Snapper of Team West, wall clear".

The two of them were known as Team West because they were sent to clear the West Wall. While wall South also needed it entrance cleared, North and West were simply just walls with no gates. It took only a few seconds for the others to reply.

"This is Carter and Grey of South, wall clear".

"Archie, got the North covered".

"This is Dawn, East is covered. Let's start the party boys!"

Kyle grinned at the casual banter their teams sniper. The caring big sister in his new family.

They had been tasked with raiding the compound of the Terrorist Group 'White Lie'. Security wasn't great, so it gave them a chance to unwind and give their new addition a bit more training before they took him on big operations. That new addition was Kyle himself.

I'm not going to let then down, I'm going to be the best of them! This won't be like last time, not like when... I shouldn't think about that.

"Hey Snapper? Kyle, you okay?"

Kyle blinked back into reality and saw Dunk staring at him, concern on his face. Kyle guessed that he has 'that look' on his face and quickly changed back to his stoic expression.

"Yeah, sorry Dunk. I'm good"

"Get your head in the game man. This should be a piece of cake, but it won't exactly be walk in the park either"

"I'm fine mate, seriously. What's the worst that's gonna happen here?"

Dunk leaned to the edge of the wall and peered through. "It's best to prepare for the worst. That's why I left the Army and joined Xavier's, preparing my pension for a nice long retirement with my family. But that doesn't matter right now. What matters is the objective"

Kyle nodded and activated his helmet mic. "Archie, what's our side looking like?"

"You're pretty clear kid" replied the American marksman. "Seems to be one on top of the wall approaching you but...". His silence was punctured by the sound of his silenced M24 Sniper spitting out a .338 Lapua Magnum Round. "...he just went for a lie down. It's now all clear. Time to make some noise"

Kyle breathed deeply and steeled himself for what was to come next.

 **Hi everyone! I had this idea quite a while back, for the hunters and Huntresses of RWBY to cross paths with people of their near exact opposite nature and agenda, PMC's. I'm not saying that all Private Contractors are evil, far from it, but if you've ever read 'Masters of War' by Chris Ryan, played COD: Advanced Warfare or seen Blackwater/Acedmi or any other PMC in the news, you'll know that they have a lot of controversy surrounding them.**

 **I'm going to try and avoid the standard 'Earth People in Remnant' style of story, those stories are sometimes... Not great. At least when it's like the author's edgy alter ego. I'm going to make this clear. Kyle is not me, he's a character. I got inspiration for these characters from people I know at my local airsoft shop/site and from different pieces of media.**

 **To help me avoid a bad story, please R &R, as someone who dreams of becoming a professional author/journalist one day I want to know what people like/dislike.**

 **I don't own RWBY obviously.**

 **Thanks for giving my story a try.**

 **Yes I am aware that it's very rough and the layout is probably terrible. I wrote this on my phone after a few bottles of Cobra, and it's my very first Fic. I will change it, don't worry. Tell me whats wrong, whats good and I'll make it better.**

 **-Monster**


	2. Chapter 2

**Holy shi- Nearly 100 views, 6 followers and 2 favourites? (Stats taken about 12 hours after the release of Chapter 1) Thanks guys, this makes me geniunly happy! Posting Chapter 1 has taught me a lot here, and I promise I will learn from these things to make the story as enjoyable as possible. Now, reviews...**

 **HavenofUmbar - Thanks, appreciate it. I actually read the beginning of your story 'RWBY: A Galaxy Too Far' back in January, good stuff.**

 **KyranKandosa - Wow, I can't thank you enough for that review. I was worried that people would hate the story for being a 'Earth People in Remnant' style story but if someone finds it 'promising' that gives me the inspiration to keep going! I'm going to try using a line of X's to mark out a change in scene (see below for more details), but it was odd to do so cause I literally wrote this at 2am on my phones 'Notes' app. I agree that POV changes can be a bit awkward at times but I know some stories that do so, in my opinion, very well (check out 'Darth Arc' by Heart of Steel 1994). Since I am fairly new to writing a 'long' story I'll follow your advice though. I'll defiantly be checking out that Deviant Art page you mentioned, I'll take all the help I can get at the moment. Thank you very much for the review!**

 **For others not reading reviews, here's a 'highlight' of some information.**

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX = Change of scene**

 **Talking, thoughts, flashbacks, etc will try to be made as clear as possible. If I figure out a good system I'll put in the author's notes and update the old ones, but for now I'll just wing it.**

 **Special shoutout to my good friend Henta1Rampag3 (who some of you might know from his current story 'Like Candlelight' or his magnum opus masterpiece 'Team RWBY's 420' ["Blake do you have weed!?" Yang's purple eyes shot open in joy]) for giving me a lot of help and support over the last few months, not just with writing but with just life in general. I can't recommend his 'Candlelight' story enough, and thanks to him this chapter was rewritten with a vengeance... twice... three times... okay maybe it was some mo- I want to get this story right! Please, bear with me!**

 **Enough of me rambling, on with the show!**

One For The Money - Chapter 2

Downtown Vale. A national hotspot for people going about their daily lives, working, shopping, just generally living. The most exciting thing the place had seen in the last few years was the large amount of robberies lead by the infamous crminal Roman Torchwick. But at this moment, the city was partially in ruins, bulletholes and bloodstains in the concrete.

They had been breached.

The Grimm had struck without warning, the terrorist group White Fang giving them what was basically an open door to the civilians going about their daily lives. They had killed far too many people before they had finally been stopped by the brave Huntsmen and Huntresses who had come to help. But the problem was far from over.

The Fang had set off a bomb right in the middle of the square, where Roman was currently being taken to an airship for extraction to General Ironwood's ship. He had been at the forefront of the attack on the city and had been apprehended by Team RWBY, who had given him over to Ironwood's Knights, Robot Soldiers who had helped them push back the Grimm. They still had Roman with them, but the Fang were relentless in their attacks.

And that was how Ruby Rose found herself standing in the square that day, with her teammates, friends, teachers and strangers around her, fighting for their own survival. Their forces were spread very thin, having to deal with multiple attacks from both Grimm and Fang troops and as she was scared to admit, they were being pushed back. She pressed her eye to the scope of her beloved weapon, Crescent Rose, ready to get some long range hits on the advancing Fang. She sighted a member and pulled the trigger, a feeling that was all too familiar.

The sniper spat out a large dust bullet and hit the Fang member right in the chest. He went down but Ruby knew he was most likely still alive, thanks to his aura. She pulled back the snipers bolt, sending an empty silver shell casing down to the ground and then pushed the bolt back, hearing the recognisable 'click' as a new round was chambered. She took her eye off the scope to check over her team and to assess the current situation. It was far from good.

"Yang!" called the young teamleader to her blonde older sister and teammate. "Try saving your gauntlets ammo! We can't fall back any further!"

Yang went to reply but was interupted by a giant flash of light outside the windows. Everyone cringed as they were blinded. The light itself was also very hot and if they didn't have their aura's, they would have been badly burned.

Then came the noise. A mixture of high-pitched screeching and a bass-filled thump. Blake, with her superior faunus hearing to her human teammates was affected the most, actually losing conscious. She collapsed on the ground, dropping Gambol Shroud on the way down. The light and the noise lasted for a few seconds then stopped.

"Ow... what was that..." hissed Ruby, who was lying on the ground, her hands clutching her head. She noticed that a certain blonde team leader was making his way over to her. Obviously Jaune had not been that badly affected as her.

"Ruby are you okay?"

"Yeah... yeah I'm good... What just happened?"

"I don't know" he replied. He noticed Yang try to get up and fall over, so he caught her and held her up. He was surprised at his own ability to keep it together, but he knew that he felt like joining mostly everyone else on the ground. Although not in pain, but in fear and shock. "Sounds like a bomb went off..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kyle's rifle clicked empty, his cue to step back fully behind cover. He pressed the mag-release catch as he dropped to one knee, the now empty magazine forgotten as it fell to the dusty ground and he ripped a new mag from his vest and slammed it into the rifle. Him, along with 3 members of his team had encountered quite a resistance from White Lie members, the seemingly empty compound was now bursting with life as terrorists poured out from inside the small building. Him and Dunk had joined up with Team South and they were crouching behind a pick-up belonging to the White Lie, the poor vehicle now a mass of bulletholes and dirt kicked-up from the gunfire. He glanced around the pick-up's front end to see something he _really_ didn't want to see there.

"RPG!"

They all raced away from the truck as the rocket was launched. It hit the pick-up causing a giant explosion throwing Kyle off his feet.

 _Just like last time. Same weapon, same situation. Please don't let me b-_

He felt his being dragged by his tactical vest through the stones and dirt. He pushed himself to his feet as he was dragged but was then pulled over again as his saviour pulled him behind their new cover, a small brick wall.

"Get your head out of your ass and in the game man!"

Great. Carter. With his shaven head, hard-ass attitude, and an professional yet absolute hatred for Kyle.

"Yes sir" Kyle replied rubbing the back of his black glove on his goggles. He crawled over to the edge of the wall, away from Carter who was blind firing his Benelli M4 over the wall and giving quite a few White Lie footsoldiers a nice helping of buckshot. Kyle had to admit, Carter was a good soldier and and effective team leader, but Kyle always felt as though Carter had a personal vendetta with him. Their first conversation forever burned into his memory.

 _"Kids? In the military? Isn't stuff like that what we're fighting against?"_

Kid. He was 18 damnit. Not a bloody child soldier.

Kyle reached the end of the wall and stopped musing about Carter. They had a job to do afterall. Lying in a prone positing, his right side pressed on the ground and his gun sideways yet locked into a firing position, he looked out to find targets. Specifically that RPG guy... Ah, there, on the balcony.

"RPG on the balcony, right side high!"

"You heard the kid, down that hostile! HVT!" shouted Carter. Putting aside petty squabbles when it mattered is what can make or break an effective team leader. Kyle didn't mind admitting that, he definitely got the job done.

The familiar burst of automatic fire from Dunk's MP7 confirmed that he had been heard. Deciding to help out before the guy could reload the launcher, Kyle flicked the 416 to semi-auto and looked through its sight, ready to take out the White Lie soldiers, starting with their good friend, the rocket man.

"Lights out motherfu-" Kyle snarled as he took the shot.

"HVT down!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Arslan Altan had lived quite an adventurous life. Being the team leader of Team ABRN at Haven Academy, getting the chance to travel to Vale to fight in the Vytal Festival Combat Tournament, being born into a fighting-bred family that valued honour above anything else and having a partner who's weapon of choice was literally a flying skateboard. She had, as she liked to say, _"Seen some shit"_.

But even she devastated by the events of today. And so was her afore mentioned partner.

"I just can't believe it guys" gasped Reese, who was fighting for breathe. They were all so inhumanly tired but Reese, who had damaged her beloved hoverboard after a nasty fall, was probably the most worn-out. "Just... just... what happened?"

"We just fought off an army of Grimm, White Fang and then suddenly a massive dust explosion or something went off and... I don't know Reese" their teammate Bolin Hori sighed out. This gave Arslan a bad feeling and she nearly shivered. Bolin was the big thinker in the team. He knew everything. Arslan was a team leader. She hated 'not knowing'. She actually shivered when Bolin finished his 'explanation'. "But I'm sure this whole thing isn't just going to 'blow over' I can tell you that".

"Hey!". The 4 members of ABRN heard a high-pitched voice and turned around to see a girl about their age wearing all Red running over to them. She was followed by a large group of people who Arslan assumed were some other students. "Are you guys okay?"

"We'll live" Arslan replied, calm like a leader should be. Deep down, she was far from calm. "Are you guys Beacon students?"

"Some of us, yes?" replied a girl in white, narrowing her eyes. Arslan understood. They had been fighting for hours, anyone would be on edge. Arslan recognised the girl as Weiss Schnee, the heiress of the infamous dust company that supplied all the schools and the Atlas Military with dust for weapons, power, and just general use. "Who are you four?"

"My name is Arslan Altan, leader of team ABRN. We've been supporting the Police. There's a group of civilians held up in some shopping centre a few streets away. Who here is a team leader? What just happened?"

"I am. Ruby Rose of team RWBY" replied the girl in red, standing up straighter to seem more 'leader-like'.

"Ruby of RWBY?"

"I get that a lot... Anyway, we don't know what happened. One second we were fighting the Fang when suddenly that... Light or whatever is was appeared in front of us. Then General Ironwood came and told us to move here to an evac point being constructed at that shopping centre that you guys were defending. He said something about 'Unknowns' and the area being 'Quarantined'?"

'Unknowns'. 'Quarantined'. If Arslan was worried before, she was terrified now.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kyle's back slammed against the wall next to the door, where about 15 White Lie Militant's had just poured from. They were now layed out along the ground in front of the building, very much dead. He could feel his heart beating roughly in his chest and was taking deep breathes to try and keep calm. Carter appeared at the other side of the door and activated his headsets mic.

"This is Predator Actual, preparing to Breach on West, how copy, over?"

"Predator 2, preparing to Breach on South. Way to switch up the teams Cap, over?" replied Dunk over the radio.

"Cut the chatter Predator 2, the situation is a lot more serious than the Brass thought. They said their should only be about 10 guys here, and these bodies tell a different story. Overwatch, what's the situation?, over"

"Predator 5 here, only picking up you guys on NV's, over"

"Predator 3, no one on scope besides you 4... _Merde,_ not shooting is making me twitchy"

Kyle didn't like this one bit. That meant that they had to enter the lion's den, right into the compound. He let his nearly empty 416 hang by his side on its sling and pulled his Glock out of his vest holder. He preferred holding the smaller, lighter weapon when doing CQC, and he loved the handgun more than his rifle. With its curved engravings, red LED's on its front and back sights, the Union Jack he had on its receiver and the XARC 'skull and cross-rifles' on the back of the slide, he truly felt like this weapon was his own. He had even secretly named it, the words engraved under the slide release and thankfully not noticed so far.

"Okay, plan of action. Standard breach and clear, kick the door down and make some noise. Predator 6 will enter first, the rest of us will stay outside and watch unless things get dicey"

Kyle blinked. HE was Predator 6.

"Um... sir... I-"

"Boss, don't you think we shoul-"

"Quiet!" Carter growled into the radio yet he was looking directly at Kyle. "Snapper, stop stammering like a 13 year old boy confessing to a girl. Dawn, don't defend the brat. He's out here, playing soldier, swimming with the sharks, so he will either prove himself right here and be accepted for the team...", with this Carter's face hardened as he raised his M4 and pumped it, intimidation tactics. "... or die trying"

Not for the first time in his life, Kyle regretted join the Private Military. Oh well, just another day.

"Mind if I borrow this?" Kyle jokingly said as he grabbed Carters shotgun before he could react.

Just another day.

Jamming the Shark Muzzlebrake just under the doors handle, Kyle pulled the trigger. The muzzle 'bit' into the door, basically canceling part of the recoil and blew away its lock as if it wasn't even there. Kyle then kicked in the door stormed in. The first defender was right in front of him, still recovering from being blasted with splinters from the door. Using the shotgun like a sword, Kyle jabbed forward, getting the guy right in his chest. The muzzle break was as effective on skin as it was on doors, most likely even more so. Kyle pulled the shotguns trigger, emptying it, sending the terrorist flying off the brake and onto the floor. The Lie member was down for the count, dead but still clutching his bleeding chest. He had coughed up some blood, the brake must have hit a lung. And then the multiple 12-Gauge shells must have then blown out the lung, and the rest of his insides. Neat.

That's one.

Further down the dark hallway was two other members, and they were seconds away from countering the attack.

Kyle hurled Carter's shotgun at the one in the lead. The bulky weapon caught him in the face, but he was not fatally harmed, only dazed. His friend raised his AKM and sent a shot down the hallway. It hit Kyle, but thankfully it was on the centre of his vest, where underneath was a ballistic plate. He was winded, but far from down and miles away from out. He raised his Glock and sent a double-tap towards him.

 _"Always a double-tap. The first to kill him, the second to kill him again"._

The first shot hit him in the neck causing him to jerk back and discharge a shot from his rifle into his friends thigh. The second hit hit directly under his nose. The philtrum. The human lightswitch. He was dead before the bullet left the back of his head.

 _"That three. Three guys, Seven seconds. Not bad for a 'brat'. Well, almost 3..."_

The unlucky Lie member who had taken a 4 kilogram shotgun to the face, giving him a broken nose, and then a 7.62 round to the back of the leg was currently on the ground, grumbling incoherently , unable to stand with his leg or see with his teary eyes.

 _"Quick, end him. Before you switch back. Before it'll hurt you as much as it'll hurt him"._

With a vacant expression, Kyle walked towards the groaning terrorist, who heard him coming and tried to sit up.

"No... Get away..." the White Lie soldier growled. "Private Mil- Fuck you! You think tha-"

"You talk too much" Kyle said with a dead voice, interrupting him. He crouched down before the man as if he were a wounded animal. He placed the muzzle of the Glock on his temple and pulled the trigger, and then again, because of how natural it was.

 _"Always a double-tap...NOW that's three"_

There was a dull thud as his body hit the floor and the terrorist lay still, blood seeping out from his wounds. Kyle stood up, placing the Glock back inside its holster. He turned around and somehow, to his utter shock, called out to his team without his voice cracking.

"Hallway clear!"

 **What do you mean a Benelli M4 Super 90 only weighs 3.82 kg's? Ever heard of mods? That muzzle break on its own is pretty damn heavy... Anywho!**

 **Thanks for reading chapter 2 of 'One For The Money'. I have big plans for this story (maybe... even a ship or two... thoughts?) and I was really happy with the positive reaction to the first chapter. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, I had fun writing it. It contained the first 'action' scene, no matter how short it was. How did I do? What was good? What was bad? Please tell me, I need to know!**

 **Also, as you may be able to tell, I'm a bit of weapons nut (I blame airsoft) and I am putting that on Kyle despite saying that he was 'a character, not me'. I stand by that statement. He's not me. It's part of the story. Deal with it.**

 **I decided to start the story at season 2 ep 12, the Breach. I will talk with my editor/fellow writer/friend/idfk Henta1Rampag3 about what should I do with season 3 because there was a whole lot of plot and character death (RIP Best Girl Penny October 31st, 2013 - January 16th, 2016) which I am not against in anyway. Heads up, OC's and actual characters WILL die in this story, will some who did die 'may' or 'may not' live. It's gonna be a big surprise!**

 **Love y'all.**

 **P.S., something I had to make here**

 **Predator Actual, Major Jonathan Carter. The team-leader with a rough nature. Ex-USMC.**

 **Predator 2, Lieutenant Duncan 'Dunk' Tierney. Joke-maker, Family Man, Ex-AES/EOD in the Irish Rangers.**

 **Predator 3, Lieutenant Dawn Pichon. Protector, Sniper, Metal Head. Ex-GIGN.**

 **Predator 4, Sergeant Conner 'Archie' Archfiend. Law Man, Doorkicker, Thinker. Ex-FBI SWAT.**

 **Predator 5, Warrant Officer Alexsandr 'Gray' Zinoviev. The Brawn, Distrusting, In it for the Money. Ex-Russian Federation Ground Forces.**

 **Predator 6, Private Kyle 'Snapper' Black. The New Guy, Gunsmith Prodigy, Trying to earn his place. Ex-Royal Marine.**

 **-Monster**


	3. Chapter 3

**'ello! I'm Terry an' I liv' in Yorksire!... Just kidding, its me, Monster. Wow, good response from Chapter Two as well, thanks everyone. Nearly 220 views, 13 followers and 3 favourites. To be honest, I expected to be smited down after Chapter One, followed by me quitting my job, selling my airsoft kit, and going to live with the tree people up north. Thankfully, that hasn't happened (hugs WETech Glock and never lets go). Anyway, reviews!**

 **Sole Survivor - Well, I actually have something to 'balance the scales' there. Remember, people like Ruby are students, children. Used to war where Aura can save lives (it is set pre-Vol.3 btw) and unused to people fighting for just dirty money. "Experience is the teacher of all things" -Julius Caesar**

 **HavenofUmbar - It's a small site when you think about it eh? Maybe not exactly GoT, but there will be character death, so stay tuned for that (MAYBE EVEN IN THIS OR THE NEXT CHAPTER WHO KNOWS MAYBE I'M JUST FUCKING WITH YOU?!). And about that other thing... Ever seen 'American Sniper'? That scene with the kid and the RPG, or the Mother giving her child the Mortar shell and making him run at a tank? Imagine that... But maybe with some animal characteristics on the children. Warning, feels may be caught.**

 **Another thing, I have been basing my characters on real life people and people from books, games, etc. If people could think of characters to base people on, that would be a big help. For example, 'Dawn' will be based on Ana Larive from Killing Floor 2 and Emma "Twitch" Pichon from Rainbow Six Siege, and will feature characteristics, voice lines, weapons, etc similar to that of those she is based on. Ya' dig?**

 **Updates may start to slow down soon, as I'm going back to work. I'll try my vesy best to keep updating the story as long as I'm enjoying writing it and people are enjoying reading it.**

 **Here's Chapter 3 for you!**

One For The Money - Chapter 3

FOB Jackson was substantial, to say the least. And thus it took the woman wearing all black a good ten minutes to walk to her destination. Because of the heat, the black clothing was making her sweat quite badly; it was unbearably hot, more so because of the body armour she was wearing. As she lifted her cap and wiped the sweat off the band, she was extremely happy she had neglected to wear her body armour and boots that day, opting instead for a black hoodie, jeans and converse shoes. She raised her hand to cover her eyes as she walked past the landing zone, an absurd amount of dust and sand being kicked up by the rotar blades of a Chinook that was taking over, her black sunglasses not quite doing it. Taking soldiers to some hellish part of the desert to fight for their _Government._ Her hand subconsciously went to the XARC patch, a black skull above two crossed M4 Rifles, on her soldier.

 _Goverment. The only thing I fight for is my family and myself._

Her living quarters were little more than a thin bed covered with a mosquito-net tent. She ate MRE's with the other soldiers - mostly a sludgy mess of sausages and beans - and also fought along side them on the front lines. The other different was she got paid more. A LOT more. In her eyes, if anyone was willing to do this job, in these conditions, in this hell, for less than $200k a year then they were either very determined, very tenacious, or very stupid. Then again, she had once been one of those people. A young girl with an M4 who made a real name for herself. She would have been the first female to make it into the US Navy Seals had she not been picked up by Mr Xavier and his band of lovely mercenaries. Some were simply colegues but some felt like true family. Brothers and Sisters in Arms. And speaking of Mr Xavier, she had reached her destination.

The large black tent had the XARC symbol on it's 'door', which was also guarded by two large men. Most people would be intimidated by these two - one was tall with dark blue piercing eyes and a Mk23 Stoner LMG and the other was muscly and his black skin was covered in tattoos, with a heavily modified M4 hanging by a sling on his chest rig - but she was not most people. And as their superior, she knew them both well.

"Ryan, Gutter" she said, greeting the men. The two men stood up straight but gave her very relaxed salutes. If she was still a Sergeant, she would have discplined them. Unstead, as their superior-slash-friend-slash-person you could rely on in a fight, she simply smiled. "How's guard duty?"

" _Der'mo_ ma'am," Shuhrat 'Gutter' Glazkov replied, switching back to his home language to curse. "The Syrian weather does not agree with me, no. I miss the cold of Moscow, with drinking to keep warm, not cool"

"That's only cause you want to drink Smirnoff, not Voss right?"

"Da," he replied, glad she could understand his 'predicament'. "But not while I'm on duty of course"

"I'm glad Shu. Now, can you both let me past? The Boss called for me."

"Certainly," Gutter said as he and the ever quiet Ryan moved aside. "Have nice day Ace."

The woman grinned as she shook her head and stepped into the tent, nearly sighing with delight as she was hit with a blast of clean, fresh, air-conditioning. She walked down the tent to the far end, where a man in a suit was sitting at a group of computer monitors. He heard her approach and swiveled his car around. When she was a few feet away, she stopped and snapped him a sharp salute.

"Mr Xavier, sir!"

"At ease Ace," he said. "Seriously Rachael, how many times do I have to tell you? We're a business, not the Special Forces."

Rachael 'Ace' Castellano lowered her hand and crossed her arms behind her back. "Habit sir. What did you want to see me about?"

"Ah yes. I would like a sitrep on Predator, if you don't mind?"

"Certainly sir, I'll get Carter on call now."

Rachael sat down on the seat next to the man and started working away at the computer. The five me- no, SIX members now, of Predator Squad had been tasked with raiding a White Lie compound near Al Qusayr. Security wasn't great, but she knew very well that the Lie could easily have some trick up their sleeve. She had been on the wrong side of a gun many times, she was well aware of how dangerous the White Lie were.

After a minute working away on the computer, Rachael had set up a secure line to Predator and sent a call towards Carter, requesting Voice and Video feed. Her screen went static for a second before it came up with the familiar sight; the side of Carter's helmet, as seen by the small camera attached to it recording what he was doing. It seemed as though he was watching the teams newest Operator, Predator Six, crouching in a hallway, his sidearm pressed against the head of a White Lie member who was badly wounded. He pulled the trigger twice and the man lay still. The Operator turned round and they got a good look at him.

Much like his colleagues, he was wearing mostly black. Mainly his helmet, which was a Fast design with a headset and mic built in, his goggles and balaclava, which also had the design of a bloody set of wolf teeth. Rachael liked that design. It reminded her of her own gear. His jacket was a dark gray, covered by a Black Tactical Bulletproof Vest and had the sleeves rolled up just below black elbow pads. His hands, one holding his sidearm that Rachael recognised as a Glock, the other reaching down to pick up a _familiar_ looking shotgun off the floor were covered by black Mechanix gloves that featured the familiar white logo on the knuckles multiple times, as well as a roughly sewn on XARC patch. His black combat trousers, dusty from being dragged through a Syrian Warzone also had kneepads that matched the colour of his elbow ones and were also tucked into a large pair of combat boots.

"Who is that sir? I don't recognise him."

"That's Kyle Black, the little prodigy from 3rd Division."

"The kid? I thought he failed the psychological tests? It's not safe for him to be on a member of the XARC, nevermind a member of Predator!"

Xavier sighed. He really didn't feel like getting an interrogation from his best Operative, especially when she was his highest paid contractor. His reasoning for allowing such a damaged individual like Kyle into his company was, in his eyes, very justified. He was good. Like, really good.

"He turned to Rachael and gave her a look she knew well. The 'We'll talk about this later' scowl. he turned back to the computer and spoke into the mic.

"Predator Actual, This is Kingpin. Going for secure transmission, how copy?"

"10-4 Kingpin, Predator Actual here. Nice to speak to you sir." Carter replied, trying to keep the surprise of hearing the boss on the line out of his voice. He walked towards Kyle and held his hands out. Kyle stared at his for a few seconds, his dull eyes void of any emotion. He lifted the hand holding the Benelli and presented it to Carter who took a back, thanking Kyle. Xavier smiled at that. He knew Carter was skeptical about Kyle, that's why he hadn't told him about his records or his failed psych evaluation. He was glad that Carter was beginning to accept the young ex-Infantryman.

The two Operator's left the hallway and into the next room. And what they saw with their eyes, and their superiors on the camera feed, shocked them.

The room was filled with strange crystals. Some were large, some were small, and they were all different and bright colours. Gem's of some kind, Mr Xavier was both confused at the sight and giddy with the thought of profit from those jewels.

"Squad, form up on me. That includes you as well, Archie, Dawn. We're bugging out after this, so get prep'd" Carter said, his voice clearly overwhelmed with shock at the sight he was seeing. His brain was filled with the idea of a massive profit, which he was sure Mr Xavier would provide. "Keep your eyes open, I don't want any surprises"

"Holy shit man" Dunk said as he entered the room. "i could make Claire and the girls a thousand diamond necklaces... and then buy a thousand more!" The team laughed at that. It always surprised them that their big, angry Irish 'madman' was also a loving, caring, father-of-two family man.

"You are getting this, right Kingpin?" said Kyle. he was looking at Carter because he was the only one live-streaming his camera footage to the Boss and just looked at him subconsciously.

"Affirmitive, we have a team on their way now for exfil, dig in an-"

"Boss! I got footment! 30, maybe 40 plus foot mobiles!" Dawn yelled as she and Archie ran into the room to join the rest of Predator. Dunk and Carter looking over their find but checking their weapons and ammo with the knowledge of the ambush. Gray was standing off to the side, holding his Russian made A-91 bullpup carbine in his left hand, his right hand checking over his vest and gear. Archie and Dawn had slung their snipers over their back and had brought out theri back-up weapons, Archie's being an MP5, similair to the one he had used in the FBI SWAT while Dawn was using her Famas F1, that, like Archie, she had brought from her original career as part of GIGN. And Kyle...

Kyle had noticed something at the back of the room.

"Kingpin, switch over to my feed. I think I've found something"

"Copy Predator Six, what do you see?" said a womans voice. Kyle didn't notice the change of voice, he was trying to find something...

"I hear a noise. Like, a beeping"

He moved past one of the crystals and his heart stopped. Sitting their was an open suitcase that was filled with a lot of strange different coloured wires and an old looking phone. it didn't take a genius to figure out what it was. Over the video feed, Rachael had recovered and had started screaming into the mic.

"Predator, get out of there!"

"Bomb!" roared Kyle, grabbing Dawn from out behind her cover and ran towards the door, letting go as soon as she and the rest had grasped his words and started running after him. "Get clear, move!"

Then the bomb went off and everything flashed white. Kyle felt himself become weightless. He couldn't feel anything. He didn't notice anything. All he heard was a voice screaming in his ear.

"Predator! Predator! Black? Carter? Son of a- Scramble a recovery team! I've got men down in the field!"

Then everything went black.

 _"Son, I want to offer you a second chance"_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Glynda gazed the the group of individuals lying unconscious on the Bullhead floor. She hadn't been told where they were taking them but Ironwood said that after stopping off at Beacon, he would 'take care of them', but that wasn't her main thought.

These people were.

The differences were quite serious, not to mention the very... Unusual weaponry.

It seemed as though one group favoured the colour white, but had also incorporated oddly styled armour into the design. All their faces were covered, either by white pieces of clothing or the armour they wore. However, they were all taken in two different bullheads that were a minute or so ahead of this one, occupied by her, Ironwood, Professors Oblek and Port and Team CFVY, all very tired from defending their home for the last six or so hours.

The second group were a lot different. Their primary colour scheme was black, but they had all incorporated different designs, colours, patterns, insignia's, and lots of other things into their uniforms. They seemed a lot more personal than those in white. But their numbers were a lot smaller.

Then there was the weaponry.

They seemed like very simple firearms. No transforming into swords or scythes or anything else like Hunter weapons, nothing overly special about most of them. But one had captivated her, which was a handgun currently in the hands of Ironwood. They were looking over it together because, as the famous saying went, 'you can learn a lot about a man by his weapon'.

The handgun was mostly black and had strange symbols and tribal patterns engraved on it. On its grip was a strange array of lines going in different directions, and something told her it was a flag or it represented something. She stated this to Ironwood, who hmm'd in response and they went back to examining the weapon.

The front and back site glowed red, enough to assist the user but not enough to be noticed from a distance by a hostile. The barrel, muzzle, trigger and a Skull on the back of the slide was chrome, making the weapon seem like a work of art.

"Incredible." Ironwood stated as he turned the pistol around in his hand, noticing something under the slide release. He saw what it said and paled.

"What is it James?" Goodwitch asked. She moved to look but heard a coughing under to her left. She looked over and say one of the 'Unknowns' sit up. His black uniform also featured some colour. She recognised the symbol on his arm and vest as the one on the pistols receiver. On him however, the Symbol was red, white and blue. His face was covered by a black balaclava that featured a design that Glynda thought looked like a bloody set of Beowolf teeth. Covering that was a black helmet, with a strange contraption attached to the front of it.

By now the rest of the passengers had noticed the woken person and all eyes were on his. His hands shakily moved to his helmet, which he removed. The balaclava swiftly followed and a shock for the onlookers followed that.

The 'Unknown' was very young. He seemed older than 16 but not old enough to he in his 20's yet, so he was younger than the 3 members of CFVY looking at him, as the F, Fox Alister, was blind. The 'Unknown' blinked, his eyes adjusting to the light. He saw all the people looking at him. Then he saw one of them had Rabbit ears.

"Oh."

 **How was it? I liked this chapter and I enjoyed writing it, but I'm not so sure about what you lot will think.**

 **Also, am I getting too much into the weapons? Did you like his description? How far should I take his psychological condition? Who should I kill off, who should live? Ships? I want to here what you all think!**

 **Fun fact, Kyle's Glock is based on my WETech Glock 34 Airsoft Pistol, except his internals are chrome while mine are golden. But I thought that was too 'bling' for the story. Also, RIP my CYMA AKS-74u (aka .045c) for literally not doing anything but breaking the law. Hooray for unelected EU Bureaucrats am I right?**

 **Some of you may have recognised the 'bomb' scene as that from the intro of Ghost Recon Future where Predator Squad (yup) are killed in a convoy ambush gone wrong, which sets up the rest of the story.**

 **I'm thinking of making Gray the 'evil PMC guy', what do you all think of that? How evil should I make it? What's his past, what drove him to be a PMC? Ask these questions for all the characters!**

 **What I'm really getting at for the whole story is that I want you all to give your own input. Let's all write a story together, Legion 205 style!**

 **Stay Frosty peeps**

 **-Monster**


	4. Chapter 4

**So Chapter 3 went okay right? I actually really enjoyed writing that Chapter, but I have realised that sometimes that can lead to it being rushed, with the writer wanting to get to the 'Next Big Thing'. Apparently I avoided that so yay! Reviews!**

 **Henta1Rampag3 - Have my babies**

 **OmegaEleven - I'll take 'kinda', I can roll with that. I already have a good idea on how to balance out the combat between Hunters and PMC's/White Lie's (I might just call them 'Liars' from now on idk... I'm trying really hard not to mess this up because I'm loving this story and to see it crash and burn would kill me. I'll be watching my reviews and making sure that I'm not running into traps like so many other good stories have done, which was a real shame. Thanks for taking time to review!**

 **Also, I'm thinking about OC submissions (not like an STF, like you people giving me OC's to work with) because some characters need bases and it'd be cool if you guys threw some ideas at me, cause it might be better than anything I could think of. But we'll get to that later.**

 **This Chapter is sponsored by the Corfu Pizza and Kebab House, who listened to my request and wrote #DicksOutForHarambe on the box of my pizza. 10/10 customer service.**

 **I get a bit graphic in this chapter. Be warned ;)**

One For The Money - Chapter 4

Kyle had seen quite a bit in his life. He'd seen his neighbours houses get raided by Police when he was a child. He'd seen a man get stabbed over a bar of Chocolate in an Edinburgh Takeaway. He'd seen two bears fucking while training with the army in Wales. And he didn't even want to think about everything he had seen with the Army and the XARC in various conflict zones across the globe.

But sitting in some kind of flying vehicle, similar to that of a Blackhawk, across from a girl with Bunny Ears was definitely a first.

They'd probably given him some type of hallucinogen, something to make him talk. Well, let's talk.

"Listen up" he said, catching the attention of the four teenagers sitting across from him and the four adults sitting down a bit. "My full name is Kyle Black, I hold the rank of Private First Class in the Xavier Assault Recon Corporation, I was born on the 29th of July, 1998, and you can retrieve my service number from my Geneva Conventions Identification Card, which I gained from being a part of the British Army. I have now provided you with all of the information that I am required to under the Geneva Conventions and international law, and I will be answering no questions, other than to repeat myself or if I feel like it." Kyle said this with some respect, but with lots of confidence, looking them all individually in the eyes as he spoke.

"Do you?" asked one of the adults, a tall man with black hair and a white military style uniform. He stood up and the four teenagers moved apart so he could sit in the middle of them, directly across from Kyle.

"Do I what?"

"Feel like answering some questions?"

Kyle frowned internally, but kept his expression face on. "Well, that depends on the questions, Mr..."

"General Jame Ironwood. Of the Atlas Military"

"Never heard of y-" Kyle stopped speaking and started glaring at Ironwood. James was used to people giving his bad looks, but it felt like this boy was starting right into his soul. The other passengers shifted their hands so they were closer to their weapons and the Atlas Military soldier accompanying Ironwood raised theirs slightly. Not right at Kyle, who just continued staring, but no longer pointed at the floor. Ironwood swallowed, praying it wasn't too visible.

"Is something the matter Private?"

"The Glock. It's mine. Give it back"

It took everyone a second to realise that he was talking about the pistol currently held by Ironwood. It suddenly felt very heavy in his hands. He gripped it tighter. He had to put himself in charge of this conversation.

"If you think I'm handing you, a complete stranger of some unknown military, a loaded weapon then you are sur-"

The next second, the handgun was in Kyle's hands. He swiftly ejected the mag and threw it back to Ironwood who just barely caught it. Everyone jumped and the Soldiers yelled and aimed their rifles right at Kyle, who was busy examining his pistol. There was a few seconds of silence until, with the passive expression back on his face, he glanced back up at Ironwood and gave a smile that was eerily polite.

"You mentioned something about questions, sir?"

Ironwood took a moment to compose himself. Not even Alexander Schnee, the devious and coldhearted father of his most trusted Lieutenant and owner of the company that kept the world running, could scare the General. But this person, no older than some of the students he taught, had made him genuinely afraid. Not that he was going to let it show of course.

"Who are you?"

"Private First Class Kyle Black of the Xavier Assault Recon Corporation, commonly referred to as the XARC"

"What is your kingdom of origin?"

"Kingdom? Uhhh, United?" Kyle had a look of confusion on his face, his fingers drumming on his handguns receiver. Ironwood was frowning at his answer. United Kingdom? Was this some sort of new power that was joining the never ending chess game of control? Was it some far away place that had managed to withstand the tide of Grimm along with the 4 kingdoms? He needed to ask more questions.

"What was your business in Vale?"

"Vale? I'm not in Syria anymore?" Kyle was now showing genuine concern on his face and looked like he was about to bombard the General with questions until one of his comrades in Black sat up, groaning. Kyle instantly stood up, holstering his pistol and went to help his friend, oblivious to the guns pointed at him by the red and blue Atlas guards. He crouched next to the Boonie-wearing man and put a hand to his shoulder?

"You okay Archie?"

"Snapper? Damn, yeah I'm alright kid. What happened? Where is..."

"I got no idea mate" Kyle answered as he stood up, offering a hand to the dazed sniper, who accepted and was pulled to his feet. "But we're i-" he was interrupted by the blaring alarm of Glynda's scroll, who snapped out of her trance to answer it.

"Yes Professor Ozp- What? What do you mean the school is under attack?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ruby put her hands in the air and went to lie on the ground, as per orders of the men in all white who appeared out of a Bullhead wielding strange weapons. Most of the time when someone pointed a weapon at her, her response was to offer the same courtesy. But when they had arrived, something very strange had happened.

She had exited her bullhead, along with her team, JNPR, ABRN and also CRDL who had been at the exfil before the rest of them had shown up. Before they could leave the landing zone, another Bullhead had landed, with men running out screaming in a strange language. Cardin had been the first to react, as he was the closest, raising his mace and charging at the men. However, the one in the lead had raised his strange rifle and fired just once. The noise the aura alerts on RDL's had been so sudden and deafening, with Cardin falling to the ground, bloody and near-death. After only a single hit. Ruby knew that the main thought on her mind was that of those around her.

 _"Who are these people? And how on Remnant did it just that rifle take out all of Cardin's aura in one hit?"_

Ruby turned her head to look at her fellow 'hostages'. Weiss was remaining calm and not showing any emotion. Yang had eyes full of anger, although they wern't red yet, and Blake was visible scared, staring at Cardin's bloody, near-dead body with what seemed like a mixture of anger, sadness and regret.

JNPR were faring slightly better. Jaune and Pyrrha were on the ground next to each, their hands gripped tightly together. Ren was doing the same with Nora, but less out of fear for himself but more for the hyperactive ginger doing something crazy.

The exchange students here for the festival were with them as well, some who were already at the school surrendering to the strange attackers. They were probably all regretting the day they learned that they were asked about participating in the festival.

"Fuck this!" shouted one of the students, a young man in a yellow red jacket. Ruby could see him running past the huddled hostages the crowd, nearly tripping over those in his way. Behind him, the strange white-clothed soldiers pursued him, rifles held at the ready. "You're not killing me!" he screamed desperately.

Ruby was so fixed on the situation that she failed to notice the soldier closest to her pursuing the man as well. The armored man sprinted through the crowd, and his boot landed squarely on top of Maya's hand.

She cried out from the pain, clutching her hand in shock. Her knuckles seared with white-hot agony. The soldier paid her no mind, continuing to race ahead and raise his weapon. In an instant, all three soldiers opened fire upon the man, and the sounds of their weapons thundered throughout the entire landing area. Ruby wouldn't be surprised if they could be heard from inside the school, maybe even further than that. People screamed in shock, but no one dared move. The man, his body now an unrecognizable, bloodied husk, fell to the floor.

 _"Why didn't his aura save him? What are these weapons?"_

One of the white Soldiers walked up to the corpse to inspect it. Satisfied, he turned around, reloading his strange rifle as he did. Ruby's weapon-loving mind identifed it as a 'Bullpup' style rifle, but she had never seen one like it in any of her weapons magazines. And she had never seen anyone, especially a hunter, die from being shot. She rubbed her sore hand with her uninjured, and she could already feel her aura repair the damage. Unlike her fellow students who had fallen prey to those rifles.

"See that!?" yelled the man, addressing the crowd with a strange accent. "Anyone tries anything, they'll be joining their friend. In hell! Now shut up, and stay do-"

He suddenly stopped talking as his head exploded and he fell backwards. A gunshot echoed through the air.

"Sniper!" one of them yelled.

The men in white all turned towards the source of the sound, which Ruby recognised as an Atlas Military Bullhead. The side door of the air vehicle was open and 2 figures in black were firing upon the near-defenseless White Soldiers. Another 2 whites fell to the ground, one via another precise sniper shot, the other from a burst of automatic fire that tore up his neck. The remaining Soldiers began to fall back towards the school, the students staying down so they were not caught in the cross fire. The bullhead began to descend upon the landing zone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kyle grabbed his glocks mag off the General and jumped down from the weird air vehicle. Archie quickly followed, the rest of the team either still unconscious or slightly stirring. The first thing Kyle noticed was the large group of civilians that had just been held hostage under the White Lie soldiers. Most were still in their teens and all were looking at him and Kyle with surprised eyes.

The second thing he noticed was the building. A large tower that loomed over the area. It was by far the most fancy school he had ever seen. It looked like something from a sci-fi movie than a place to learn. But he wasn't here to sight-see. He had a job to do.

And the third thing he noticed was the injured White Lie soldier on the ground.

The man was bleed seriously from his neck and Kyle suspected that some of the shots from his 416 had hit his body armour, bruising or breaking some of his ribs. He had managed to rip the white 'mannequin' style mask from his face. His expression was one of serious pain, but Kyle felt no pity for the man. In fact, he was in the mindset to make it a lot worse for the Lie Terrorist. Behind him, he could hear the General address the 'students' that were on the ground.

"Attention all of you" he stated. "There is no need for alarm. The Atlas military will be here shortly and they wil-" a loud bang interrupted his speech, causing all the already shaken students to jump.

It was the sound of Kyle shooting the injured Liar in his right kneecap. The man started screaming until Kyle knelt over him, the right knee pressed on his bloody and broken ribs and his Glock pressed to his head.

"Hello there" he said in a creepily cheerful voice that actually scared _him_ as well as everyone else. Not that he let it show. The switch had been flicked. "We all know you're about to kick it and we also know that us XARC's are not people to fuck around when provoked. So please, if you could tell me your exact numbers, I'd be really grateful and I'll give you a quick exit. Comprende?"

Once when on an Operation in Libya he had seen a Liar crack right when Carter put his pistol to his balls and pulled the trigger. But this guy seemed a much tougher nut to crack, even after everything that had happened to him. Kyle sighed and reached into his chest rig and brought out his knife, a small red and black butterfly knife with the XARC symbol on its blade; a gift from his mother and sister after he saved them from a life of poverty and his abusive father. As he skillfully flicked out the blade with well practiced ease, it was a good way to pass the time when he got bored on the job, he looked up to shout to the petrified students.

"You all might was to look away from this!" he yelled, his voice cracking slightly with a psychotic laugh. _"Thank fuck that switch was still flicked or he would have been sick"._ "It's not going to be pretty"

"Hey Snapper" he heard Archie say from over his shoulder. "Maybe you should wait and-"

Kyle was NOT waiting. He might switch back in that time.

He grabbed the Liar's left wrist and made a rough cut on the skin between his thumb and index finger. The blade went to just before the wrist, causing the Liar to gasp in shock and pain. But Kyle wasn't done yet. Ignoring Archie's pleas and the shrieks from the students around him, he dropped knife, grabbed the bloodied thumb and ripped it clean off, exposing tendons and thin bones. The terrorist started screaming until Kyle let go of hand and used his to clamp his mouth shut.

"Ouch, that must hurt. Little too much for you?" He spat on the mans face. "Good, fucking terrorist. ready to tal- Oh"

The man had bled to face one of a silent scream, his lifeless eyes staring into Kyle's. It took all of his willpower to not scream, so instead he stood up and collected himself.

Just another day.

 **Yeah... that happened.**

 **Thanks to Henta1Rampag3 (will never not laugh/cringe when I type his name) for letting me use some of his old college work for inspiration. Hope his far superior writing style didn't feel too out of place in mine, but I don't think you'll notice it.**

 **Anyway, OC submissions. Just drop me reviews for characters. XARC, White Lie, White Fang, Students, Atlan Mil., etc anything is good. Inspiration is always a good help when writing and will help chapters come faster. hell, if any of you want to give me ideas for story arc's, plot points, or anything feel free to do so. I'll love you forever.**

 **Think that's everything... Now I have to go, graveyard shift. Ciao.**

 **-Monster**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey readers. We hit 10k words on that last chapter, I received my first OC submission and my older brother managed to break one of my AK High-cap mags. Good thing I wanted mids eh?**

 **10 Fave's, over 20 follows. Thanks to all of you for the support. I was so worried I would never get past chapter 2, but I think I've managed to keep up with the writing pretty well. Now, reviews:**

 **HavenofUmbar: First of, thanks for that OC submission. I already know how to fit him right into the story. Second of, Kyle's mental state is actually a big part of the story. It's uncommon for people in the military to not be effected by their experiences, and Kyle overcoming his troubles (with help) will be a big part of the story.**

 **This chapter will also feature Haven's OC submission! Thank you for that mate, much obliged. If anyone else would like to submit an OC please drop me a review or a message. If you could follow Haven's style, that would be good, gives me all the details (Name, Affiliation, Age, Nationality, Appearance, Clothes, Preferred Weaponry, Personality, Habits, Bio etc) but I may contact you to get the finer details.**

 ***Insert chapter here*  
**

One For The Money - Chapter 5

Kyle stood over the body he had just mutilated and tried not to be sick in his balaclava. He just couldn't look away from the lifeless eyes of the dead man. Staring at nothing, yet looking directly into his soul. A soul that was filled with shame, hot and sharp. He could only imagine what Archie, his friend, was thinking behind him. Archie detested the White Lie, as did any member of any military. They were cold-blooded, remorseless killers. An organisation that has the ability to attack anywhere in the world at any given time, with no discretion for age, religion, nationality, Political Standpoint or any other deciding factor. Anyone who wasn't them was a target.

 _"But an 18 year old who just slowly and painfully killed a wounded member of said organisation... is definitely no 'good guy'"_

Kyle turned his head and look towards the crown of students. Directly across from him was a young girl with black and red hair, wearing a matching black and red dress. She was staring at him, at the monster, with an expression of pure terror on her young face. She wasn't staring at the body, like the majority of students around her, but at Kyle himself. She was scared. Of him. And that made Kyle feel sick, more than anything else in his entire life.

She lifted his right leg up and over the corpse, making sure he was moving slowly as to not frighten the people around him. They probably weren't used to seeing people get butchered because of what they stood for. But for Kyle...

 _"...Just another day"_

He looked back towards the red haired girl. Tears were freely flowing down her face, dripping like rain on the ground below her. A Blonde haired individual had grabbed her hand and was squeezing it tight, but he didn't even think she had noticed, she had yet to even move her watery, unblinking eyes of him. Kyle went to step towards her, to offer... an apology? Sympathy? He didn't know. But a simple inch caused her to flinch as if he had struck her and making the Blonde haired to give him a bright red death stare. These two things hit Kyle harder than any bullet could, but he didn't show it. After all, he was a professional. He turned and walked towards Archie, stopped when he realised that the American Sniper was not giving him a look of anger, fear, or anything like that.

It was a look of pity.

And that was what it took to break Kyle's bulletproof facade of 'Professionalism'. He choked on the bitter air in his throat, the only reason that he didn't throw up was the lack of food in his system.

 _"Just another fucking day"_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Conner 'Archie' Archfiend stood on that strange landing pad, next to the strange vehicle, in that strange place with the strange please and stared at the dry-heaving demon that was Kyle, his young friend.

As an ex-Member of the FBI SWAT team, and a frequent traveler to very 'exciting' places in the world, he had been in the company of madness many times before. He had once talked the wife a member of a One-Percenter Biker down from the roof of her house when she was threatening to jump off with not only a bomb powerful enough to level the entire building, but also her two-year-old daughter. She had been one of the First agents into the bathroom of a drug party in which a teenage girl had ripped most of the skin from her best friends face with her teeth, ignoring the screams whilst babbling crazy talk about the Spiders crawling beneath their skin. He had seen and felt the affects of paranoia and hatred, caused by drugs, anger, fear and once had witnessed one of his colleagues in tears, beating a bank robber who had just shot another officer to near-death with his baton.

But he had never seen one of his own 'family', especially 'little Snapper', cut up a wounded man in a psychotic rage then stop just short of crying about it. What he had just done was nothing short of lunacy, the actions of a madman, but there was nothing crazy about the aftermath. In fact, Kyle seemed deeply troubled by him own actions.

 _"Damn kid, I somewhat regret saying this would be an opportunity for you..."_

*flashback*

Archie growled slightly as his phone lost reception again. Google Maps was quite possibly the most useless thing in existence.

"Well I'm lost" he moaned to himself. "Now, where the fuck is Cotto- Ah"

His quiet mumblings were interrupted by whistle of a turbo and the rapid-fire spitting of an exhaust. He turned around to see a familiar looking Nissan GTR R35 come round the corner, the engine snarling with all its might as it came to a swift stop next to Archie. The window was rolled down and inside sat a familiar sight; Blue eyes, Dirty Blond short hair, and a grin wider than the Cheshire Cat.

"Hey girl, you looking for a good time?" the driver asked jokingly, his accent a rough mix of Irish and American.

"Shut up Cotton or I will shoot you" Archie said as he opened the passenger door, the left side instead of his usual right, and climbed into the car, sinking into the comforting yet stylish leather racing seat. "And what did i say about inconspicuous transport?"

Ryan 'Cotton' Cottonborough, currently the youngest member of the XARC at 19 years old, laughed as he put the car into gear and rolled away from the curb. "Dude, you said 'Get a sedan or a hatchback'. How am I supposed to pick up girls in a hatchback? The GTR was the better option, trust me".

Archie shook his head, but he was smiling. He was used to Cotton's 'Ladies Man' antics and to be honest, they made him laugh more than anything. After all, was he not like that once? Plus, Cotton had grown up with basically nothing, he deserved the chance to spend his 'honest' PMC pay-check. Better than his teenage years, helping his family pay the bills by muggings, Grand Theft Auto, armed robbery and all those wonderful past times. Until he tried to steal a certain car belonging to the certain owner of a certain Private Military. Instead of asking Archie, who was on hand, to put a bullet in the young street rat, he asked him to get fresh clothes and a hot meal.

He gave Cotton a chance. A chance to escape the early death of a modern 'gangbanger' but receive actual money for his starving family. And the rest was history. Archie was proud of his prodigy, and had spent the last 3 years turning him into someone his now happy family could be proud of. Unfortunately, he hadn't quite mastered the art of keeping quiet.

"And so I said to the guy, 'Hey dickhead it's really fucking simple" Cotton babbled on, Archie exciting his little muse and coming back to the GTR's cockpit. "'Don't try to fucking race me because your car goes brum brum whilst my car goes'..." He stopped talking and revved the Nissan, the heavily modded 800bhp Japanese engine roaring along the quiet street, the driver laughing to himself, the co-pilot hiding his amusement.

"Cotton?"

"Yeah boss?"

"Shut up, we're here on business"

"Yes sir, heading there now"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The flat was located in a graffiti covered, run-down, burned out Urban area of Glasgow. Cotton's Nissan stuck out like a neon light next to all the rusty, battered typical front wheel drive, three door cheap motors owned by the residents of the local housing. Despite being in a 'civilian area', Archie felt at vulnerable as he did in Afghan, the feeling of his M45 MEUSOC very noticeable in its holster under his jacket, feeling like a tonne weight despite its actual 1.1 kilograms. Looking at Cotton, he knew that the young American was feeling distasteful nostalgia to him childhood and teenage years spent in rough Brooklyn, either running from or running with street gangs. But they wouldn't be there long. Almost at the right flat... 31...32...33...

"Here" Archie stated. "34"

He knocked loudly on the door, shaking his head at Cotton as he reached for his sidearm but only internally sighed as he instead grabbed a cigarettes from his pocket, lit it with a lighter taken from the same pocket and took a long drag. Whatever right? It wasn't a violent action and it kept him calm. As long as he put it out before they went in. They may be killers-for-paychecks, but they had standards.

The door opened, revealing a young man on crutches.

"Kyle Black?" asked Cotton, smiling at the person who had opened the door,

"Yes?"

Archie copied his pupil with a smile of his own. "We're representatives of Xavier's Assault Recon Corporation. I believe we have something for you"

"Like what?"

"An opportunity"

*flashback ends*

Archie sighed, regretting the past, thinking about the present, worrying about the future. He heard footsteps and saw that the man in the large white coat, Ironwood, walking up to the two contractors. His men where both shocked by the bloody corpse but it didn't seem to phase him, instead doing what no one else could; he put his hand on Kyle's shoulder.

"At ease son, you stopped a bad man doing more bad things. Commendable, at the very least. And from the scanners, 13 of them got away, which leaves about 40 unaccounted for. But you did well, like a Soldier should"

"I couldn't agree more, though I can't approve of my squad members actions" said another voice. The three of them turned to see Carter and the rest of Predator jumping down from the Bullhead and walking towards them. "But what's done is done, and we have some Liar's to kill"

"Liars?" inquired Ironwood. "Is that the name of those men in white?"

Carter looked at him incredulously. "Has the brass been living under a rock? Yes, that is the nickname of the most dangerous terrorist organisation known to mankind. Fucking hell". He pushed past the General and called to his squad. "Predator 2 through 5 on me. 6, you stay here and watch over the civvies, take a breather. Let's head out" He briskly walked away without another word. The rest following him, most glancing back at Predator 6, Kyle, who was checking his rifle.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ruby was a self-proclaimed 'Weapon Expert'. She had read every 'Weapons!' magazine ever, an impressive feat because it had been printed every week for 6 years before she was born and 13 before she had discovered. She was ranked at the very top of Weapons Maintenance Class, despite have possibly the most complicated weapon in her year. But she was awe-struck by the rifle held by the man in front of her.

The gun itself was quite compact and had been heavily modified from what she had imagined was a pre-built base model. This included a large suppressor on a fairly short barrel, in her opinion for a dust rifle at least, a strange box and an odd triangle shaped foregrip on the hand guard, a thin and narrow cylinder shaped sight on the top and, the thing that actually interested her the most, a stock that was a flat piece of metal joined to the gun by two twin wire-like pieces of metal. The gun was black, but had a dusty and scratched exterior. This actually made it more appealing to her, as the only thing worse than a dirty and scratched weapon was one that never got used.

The man in black clothing held the rifle by the grip, his finger just above the trigger guard. He swiftly ejected the magazine and put it in his vest before it fell out of reach, where he also produced a fresh one. Ruby never got a chance to see its contents before it was jammed into the rifle, locking into place with a 'click' she found oddly satisfying, despite the situation. With 'Blacks', that what she was calling him now, left hand still on the grip, his left hand pulled back the charging handle, the weapon producing more pleasant sounds as a round clicked into the chamber. The handle was let go, the hand holding now gripping the foregrip and the stock placed on his shoulder. This man, this soldier, was ready to protect them.

Despite all of them, Ruby included, thinking he was a monster.

 **Right.. so... yeah... I feel like I've been gone a while but I think it's only been a week. Life and shit, you know?**

 **Hey Haven, how did you like the OC? Cotton is now officially part of the story and I have... *places hands together at a sloped 90 degree angle* big, BIG plans for him. Muhahah...**

 **Or something... To be honest I have like no idea what to put in this part of the author's notes, but I feel like words should be put here. Hi, I am a person writing this story, LOVE ME.**

 **Next chapter coming, hopefully, soon! End of this week if I can but I'm working full time, give me a break!**

 **-Monster**


	6. Chapter 6

**Бочка, басс, колбасит соло** **,** **Колбасер по пояс голый...**

 **Бочка, басс, колбасер** **,** **Голый, голый, колбасер...**

 **А мне мама говорила, колбасеры это сила**

 **Boscka bass, kolb-...Oh sorry, no one likes cheeky hardbass? That's fine... Blin...**

 **Anyway, Hey, new chapter. Entire thing written over a few days in a small breakroom while eating chicken. Reviews now:**

 **HavenOfUmbar: He's my character now, I can do what I want! Muhahaha! Dunno, he'll be used. For how long... depends on your ability to keep my account full :D**

 **H20 Ferrum Dominus: Thanks brah. Keep reading and everything will probably be at least glazed over slightly... or fully answered over several chapters.**

 **That's all for today my friends. Stay cheeki breeki**

 ***hardbass transition to chapter***

One For The Money - Chapter 5

Kyle lay on the cold bed that had been given to him by the Professor. He never thought that on the strangest day of his life, one of his main emotions would be boredom. But after the rest of Predator had searched the school along with its security personnel, without finding a single member of White Lie and given the all clear, several hours had passed. In those several hours, Kyle had stood in complete silence, ignoring all the looks and questions from the students, professors, the General and his men and had just watched the school. When given the all clear over the radio, he had simple walked off, letting his rifle hang by his. Let Ironwoods 'actual' soldiers take care of the civilians now.

After regrouping with Predator, they had been greeted by the head of the school, a tall Grey Haired man with a cane named Ozpin. And after a couple more hours of discussion and, letting himself speak freely, 'bullshit', they had all come to a conclusion.

They weren't in Kansas anymore. Or Syria, to be more exact and less 'The Wizard of Oz'. But to get to that they had gone through a lot of shouting, swearing and raised rifles on both sides.

Soldiers are taught to act on the fly, take situations as they come, to expect the unexpected and to treat every potential hostile situation with great prejudice. But did they ever think they were going to travel to a different dimension, filled with Monsters, people with Superhuman abilities, a near-complete lack of human based warfare and people that have animal features? Fucking animal features?

Ozpin had given them temporary housing, promised Ironwood that everyone would be kept a close eye on, and everyone had turned in.

But it wasn't their current situation that was torturing Kyle the most. It was the look that those two girls had given him, the look of fear from Red and hatred from Blondie.

Kyle knew he was a deeply flawed human being. In the last two and half years, he had killed way too many people that it would be impossible to not have some mental defection. His hands were stained with blood, always methaporical and sometimes literally stained. Was he still human? Did he still have humanity left? What would have happened if anyone else from his old squad had-

"No" he said out loud to the empty room, so dark he couldn't see anything. "Not thinking about it".

He stood up and walked over to where he thought the chair was... To the left... Got it. He felt his clothes piled on top, his armour, weapons and helmet sitting on the desk in front of it, not that he could see them. He got dressed in only his combats and black t-shirt that featured the XARC logo and slogan.

'War is hell. Hell is our habitat'

He felt along the desk till he found his Glock, his hands closing around the receiver as if he was about to use it. He found the carbon fibre holster that was clipped onto the belt of his tactical vest, removed it and clipped it to the belt on his trousers. The Glock slipped into the the holster perfectly, 'like a glove'.

Time to go for a walk. Maybe get some target practice in. Something to calm him down.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"General Ironwood sir, one of the Unknowns is on the move"

"Which one?"

"Private Black, sir"

"Acknowledged. Keep me updated. If they're linked to the queen, then the enemy is literally on our doorstep"

"Yes sir"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Arslan was walking down the corridor from that she and her team had been given when they had arrived at Beacon. She and Reese were on their way to get breakfast, despite knowing she probably couldn't eat anything. She just couldn't stop thinking about yesterday.

Those dead people. Those Soldiers, one set white, the other black. That horrible, brutal death and the person who done it. And how aura had basically meant nothing when those weapons were used. What did this mean for Hunters and Huntresses? They weren't meant to fight humans, but this made them truly loose and edge if it came down to it.

"Hey Ars" said her companion, who was currently carrying her hoverboard in her hands to see if she could fix it in one of Beacons many workshop. "Isn't that the red haired girl from yesterday?"

Arslan looked to where her partner had indicated and saw that short team leader from the day before, Ruby. She had spotted them as well and was waiting for them, a smile on her face that didn't quite reach her eyes. She had been the closest to that mutalation yesterday, she would obviously be a bit 'out of it'.

"Hey guys, how did you sleep?"

"Okay I guess" replied Arslan, lying to keep anymore stress from piling onto the younger huntress. "What about you Rubes?"

"Same. I'm just heading for some maintenance for my Sweetheart" said Ruby as she held up her sniper in it's compressed form. It was obvious she enjoyed tinkering with weaponry, and she needed something to focus on other than yesterday. "Want to tag along?"

"Sure, I need to get some work done on my board anyway. Lead on." Reese said, smiling that she had a potential expert to help her improve her weapon and make her hobby of skating more fun.

The followed Ruby down a series of hallways, making simple small talk along the way. Mostly about the weapons of the 3 huntresses-in-training and their preparation for the festival tournament. Anything but the things they had seen yesterday. They were so busy chatting that they didn't notice the two people walking in-front of then until... Click.

"Answer me this, fucker."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kyle jogged down the corridor he had been directed to. Thankfully that green-haired Professor from yesterday that he had come across had been kind to give him directions. He was worried that everyone here would hate him for yesterday, but the man who had introduced himself as Doctor Oblek didn't even seem to blink at the sight of him.

Strangely, his phone was, instead of already being dead because of its awful battery like usual, constantly in a charging state. He had originally thought it was glitched out but no, it was literally always charging in his pocket, despite not being plugged in. Just another strange thing about this world. So just like back at the many XARC compounds, he was listening to music on his early morning run. Currently it was 'Cigarettes and Alcohol' by Oasis, reminding him of his friend Cotton. The original youngest member of the XARC, Cotton had a bad addiction for smoking during and between operations and drinking himself into a near-coma when on leave. Kyle had been one of the three tasked with keeping an eye on him, seeing as how much Cotton was an older brother to him. The second was another ex-member of the British Army, Oscar 'Bootneck' Johnson. Kyle had grown close to the man as well, from his custom black and red clothing and weaponry to his similar love of Glock pistols, the two ex-Rifleman had spent many a nights with Cotton at the bars. Unlike the others, Bootneck seemed to handle his alcohol like no other.

The last was the 'Dad' of the group, the ever caring sniper Archie, who scolded and praised the three as if they were family. In Kyle's eye, they were.

He looked out the window he was passing as large white fluffy clouds drifted through the late air. "I hope you don't think we're dead guys." he said out loud.

"Who would think that, Private?"

Kyle turned to see the gray-hairded headmaster, Ozpin, approach.

"People who aren't here sir. Afterall, I've never heard of dimension traveling in anything other than Doctor Who and badly-written fanfiction."

 **(Kill me)**

"I don't know what that means, but I'll agree that it is very... Uncommon" the professor replied, chuckling. "Where are you off to this morning Private?"

"You can just call me Snapper sir, everyone does. And I was just heading for a walk, maybe test out your firing range you have here."

"Interesting" Ozpin mused. He motioned down the corridor with his cane. "Walk with me".

Kyle removed his headphones and fell in beside the man. He wondered why he carried a cane, he seemed to walk perfectly normal and he didn't even seem to use it at all. He decided not to pay it too much attention, what could a simple cane even do? He made a note to himself to keep an eye on Ozpin, and to warn his teammates to do the same.

"So... Black, I-"

"Sir, please call me Snapper. Or Kyle. I don't like the formality."

Ozpin put on a slightly quizzing face. "What does 'Snapper' mean exactly?"

"It's an old Irish Word, which is a language where I'm from. Basically means 'Young Guy', and Dunk, who you should remember from yesterday called me that when we all met. It just kinda stuck."

The Professor hummed, drumming his fingers along his cane as he walked. "Have you all known each other that long?"

"Just over two years."

"Not that long then?"

Kyle turned to glare at him slightly. He knew that a lot could happen, and did happen, in two years. Such as being hired by one of the biggest private armies in the world and getting access to not only the best hardware and gear in the world, but a £200k-a-year paycheck. "Long enough for me to know how to kill you in a near unlimited number of ways for suggesting that we haven't had enough time to go through a lot. Sir."

Ozpin slowed slightly. He turned towards the young Soldier, a look of sadness and confusion of his face. "Why must you be so hostile to me Kyle? I have only offered you solace haven't I?"

"What's with all these questions?!" Kyle loudly snarled at the man. "Don't I get a larger quota, being in another fucking dimension?"

"Sorry, where are my manners, would you like to ask some questions?"

"Yeah actually" Kyle said angrily as he ripped his Glock from his belt and pulled back the slide, letting the bullets file into the chamber. He placed the barrel against Ozpin's chest, applying some pressure yet leaving room for more direct contact. "Answer me this, fucker". There were multiple gasps around the two, who stared into each other's eye with completely passive expressions, as if the gun didn't exist. "Why?"

Ozpin tilted his head slightly. "Why what?"

"Why ask us to stay here? Why offer us refuge? You saw what I did it yesterday, it nearly even made me sick what I'm capable of. Why help us?"

Ozpin smiled, as if Kyle had just asked a simple question. "Because of you, and what you did yesterday."

Kyle stood, shocked. He was helped them... For him? He motioned for the man to continue, and he obliged.

"Kyle, could you kill one of my students for no reason?"

"...Of course not. I'm not some crazed killer, I'm a PMC."

"Yes. And what is the difference?"

"Uhhh, one is a mental sickness and the other is a job?"

Ozpin nodded, raising a hand to Kyle's shoulder. "Precisely. You may think of yourself as a bad person, but maybe you're just a good person who's capable of bad things? It's easier to dismiss yourself, and for my students to dismiss you..." Here, Ozpin stopped to look around at his students with a somewhat wishful expression. "...as a mindless heartless killer, no better than a creature of Grimm, than to see you for what you really are; a deeply flawed human being with a deeply flawed past. One who definitely deserves a second chance, and whom my students could learn a lot from."

Kyle slowly lowered his Glock in proportion to most of the students around him raising theirs, then lowering them again at a hand from Ozpin. "Okay sir, I understand. Although I'm not so sure about being a role model for your students."

Ozpin laughed. "One thing at a time Kyle". He motioned towards one of the students, who Kyle was shocked to realise was the red haired girl from yesterday. She stepped forward, no sign of recognition on her face. She obviously didn't recognise him. The only thing he saw was concern and curiosity.

"Miss Rose, would you be so kind as to show Mr Black to my office? There is a few more things we have to discuss."

"Yes sir" she replied, smiling at Kyle. "Come on, this way."

Kyle followed her, walking through the crowd away from all the shocked people. Her red cape flowed and rippled as she walked, like he was following Dracula to his coffin. Where he was from, the real heroes wore camo, body armour, or protective gear of some kind.

This place was somewhere he would definitely take sometime to get used to. But seeing Ruby turn round and give him a smile, he was pretty sure he know how to attain that information.

"Thanks you, Miss...?"

"Ruby Rose, but please just call me Ruby." she replied, turning back forward again, as Kyle noticed the strange object in her hands. Was that a Sniper Scope?

"Then you can just call me Kyle. Also Ruby, what is that in your hands?"

"Oh this?" She grinned, the small object suddenly expanding until it was taller than both him and her, now a giant red scythe that was also a...

"Is that a Barrett M82 high impact anti-material rifle? With a bolt-semi select fire, side vented compensator and possibly the coolest blade ever attached?"

Ruby looked at him, stunned. No one had ever known that much about her Sweetheart, not even her Uncle Qrow, from little more than a quick glance. She wasn't so sure about what the 'Barrett M82' part was, but the rest of it was nearly exact. Looking at Kyle, she saw his eyes were wide, shock and excitement covering his face. She compressed the gun to its compact 'box' form and placed it on her belt.

"You a weapons freak too huh?"

Kyle grinned back at the young Huntress. "You bet I am. Hey, after my meeting with Ozpin, how about we have some target practice? I'll even bring my rifle along too, we'll trade some shooting pointers."

"Yeah, that sounds good. Expect to be second best on the range though."

Kyle laughed. Not even Archie or Dawn, the two dead-eye snipers, could beat him on the XARC range or the 'Kill-House' when it came to accuracy and 'quickdraw' shots. How good could this, what, 16 year old be? "Bring it on, Rose."

They talked about weapons for a few more minutes, mostly about what the two liked and used, Kyle keeping his information on the low. For now. They stopped out side a big metal elevator and his red-haired 'friend' turned to him.

"Top floor here, guess I'll see you around?"

Kyle paused for a moment, seriously thinking about what he was about to say... Fuck it.

"Ruby..." he said, reaching for his side pocket and grabbing the balaclava inside. Ruby frowned, concern rising within her mind. What was with the worried voice, the sad eyes he was giving her? He brought his hand out of his pocket to reveal... The balaclava she remembered from yesterday. The face worn by the monster. Why would he- oh my- No! He can't be!

Kyle cringed at Ruby's face. Another person now hating him for who he was. "I'm sorry."

He walked into the elevator, pressing the top floor button. He closed his eyes until the doors closed so he didn't have to see Ruby's face again.

 _"Just another day..."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Any idea what happened?"

 _"No"_

"Any idea what we are going to do?"

 _"Yes"_

"Care to enlighten me?"

 _"Same thing we always do, Brother. Leave no survivors..."_

 **Cliffhanger-ish? Favourite MW2 Mission right there...**

 **This chapter is sponsored by the iPhone Notes App, where it was written in its entirety. Edited on my PC, but I can't really take that into my works break room. New chapter... Eventually? Sorry :( I try**

 **SYOC is still up. Review, message, whatever just gimme something.**

 **God I'm so tired... I hate overnight shifts...**

 **-Monster**


	7. Chapter 7

**Quite a short chapter here, lots of explanations, leveling the field between the PMC's and the RWBY cast. What do you all think about the PMC's chances against the Grimm? Ad/Disadvantges against the Grimm, same as how they are against those with Aura? Keep R &R'ing and OC submission is still open, just put it in a review or PM. **

**Enjoy**

One For The Money - Chapter 7

Life in Vale was continuing on in Vale. It was no stranger to Grimm attacks, at least on its borders, and life had simply continued on, the status quo going on smoothly as if the attacks had never happened.

No however, expected an attack that was human in nature.

In Downtown Vale there is a cornered off district known as 'The Safe'. It is completely walled off and has only one entrance and exit, an armoured checkpoint known as 'The Crossing'. This area was kept on security lockdown day and night by SDC personnel, the giant Dust Company owning all that was inside the area. No one really knew what was inside the area, and anyone who tried who enter, mostly White Fang, would be stopped by the many Huntsmen and Guards patrolling the area.

But no one expected this kind of attack. An attack, in Human Nature...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Beacon Staff Armoury was a large warehouse style section of the academy. The room was complete with many workshops, lockers, a practice arena and a firing range that was far beyond anything else Kyle had seen, all 'digital science shit' in the words of Carter. The Armoury was currently occupied by Kyle and three other XARC operators, examining the equipment recovered from when they 'arrived'. Most of the White Lie's Weapons and all their Vehicles had been acquired, leaving the Contractors with a lot of supplies, yet a lot to look over and maintain.

"So..." Carter said numbly as he glanced over the scroll in his hand that he was using to keep track of what they had counted. So far, all the vehicles - which included 2 Technicals with mounted KSG LMG's, 4 Armoured SUV's, 10 Dirtbikes and, most impressively, One Desert Multicam Covered Marauder armoured personnel carrier- the guns - which featured a lot of impressive additions thanks to the Lie's reach, influence, and personal production. SG552's, FMG-9's, L85A2's, VSS's, AA-12's, among others. Kyle was very happy with the result and had claimed a short-barrelled, full-metal AKS-74u, complete with Aimpoint Red-Dot sight, PEQ box, M4 style collapsible stock and many other nice additions, all of which he was hoping to show Ruby... provided she didn't hate him - Clothing and Armour - Which only contained that of which the PMC's had with them and the blood-stained uniforms of the dead Liar's, which definitely weren't going to be worn soon - and a few other things had been tallied up. "How are we doing on ammo?"

Kyle looked up from his new 'toy and spoke up. "Tough question. As you know from the tests we've done, the weapons here don't use the same ammo we use. They use something called 'Dust Rounds' which aren't as fast, hard hitting or accurate as our variant as far as I can tell, but have special abilities tied to them. Fire Dust with Fire, Ice Dust with Ice, etcetera, etcetera. I have no idea if they're going to work in our equipment or if we're going to have to find an alternative, but we have about 1000 5.56 Nato Rounds, 800 standard 12-Gauge Shotgun Shells, enough, enough 7.62 rounds to survive the Apocalypse, and I'm still counting up the rest. To summarise, we're... Okay?"

Carter nodded and made some notes on his screen. The whole 'bullet' situation worried him more than he let on, and not for lack of it, but the impact it was having on them being in this place.

The 'tests' Kyle had mentioned had taken place two days ago, after a meeting he had with Ozpin discussing them working at the school as Assistant Teachers - little progress had been made - about the difference between their ammo and that of Remnants standard.

They had experimented with a natural shield the people of Remnant could have called 'Aura' and due to its sheer velocity and utter brute force, the 'Earth' ammunition was able to hit and Aura and drain it completely, no matter the caliber. This left the user vulnerable to attack and of course the bullet itself, providing it wasn't just passing close by, as Aura has about 2 inches of 'breathing room' on Huntsman and around a few centimetres on a civilian. Meaning that the more 'powerful' fighters were actually at a larger risk of having their aura taken out compared to a normal user. Also, whilst not being anywhere near as deadly as gunpowder ammo, Dust Rounds could still pack a punch on someone with no Aura - meaning the XARC members or low-class Remnant People - or a drained one.

The other two PMC members of the room, Dunk and Dawn, had very mixed feelings about this. Irish Family Man Dunk was seeing them having 'better' firepower as a huge advantage over nearly any enemy here, with any Huntsmen going against them most likely making the critical and fatal mistake of underestimating them. The French 'Metalhead' Sniper Dawn however was looking at the bigger picture. Mainly about how switching her 'baby', her HK 417 DMR that she had used back in GIGN with the Special Forces logo still engraved on the lower receiver, to Dust Ammo would effect it's long range ability unless she gave it some serious modifications, more so than her last 8 years of changes and maintenance with the rifle. As well as how without their guns, they were little more than annoyances to Huntsmen/Huntresses and they had no idea how effective their kit would be against the Grimm, if they would do any damage at all. She straightened her black and red XARC cap on her head, her black eye-pro sunglasses resting on the hats brim, and went to make another point on the matter but was suddenly interrupted by an alarm and a voice over the schools intercom.

"Alert, may any active personnel with Level 5 clearance or above please report to the Staff Room immediately. May any XARC personnel available please also make their way to the Landing Zone. This is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The first sign of 'The Crossing' being attacked was the lights in the distance on the road. A set of headlights rapidly approaching the main entrance, stopping for no one. The vehicle hit the gate going over 90 miles per hour. Along with the fact that is was filled with high explosives, the resulting explosion was deafening, literally nothing like the Guards and Huntsmen had ever seen or heard before. A giant mushroom cloud rose 40 feet into the air, causing the two guards standing at the gate to burn to death, their Aura not helping at all against this 'strange new weapon'. The remaining 6 guards posted near the entrance were gunned down when running to help their colleagues, by mysterious men.

Men in all white, heavily armoured uniforms. Men who ran past the burning wreckage of their 'door knocker', some taking up positions around the entrance while most of them headed further into the compound.

The entrance guards dead, the inner guards minutes away from sharing the same fate, and Atlas QRF was still more than 5 minutes away.

The Safe now belonged to the White Lie.

 **Next chapter will be longer. Please R &R. Sorry for quick note, I'm in a rush.**

 **Bye, have fun.**

 **-Monster**


	8. Chapter 7 and a bit (we need to talk)

**This isn't a chapter, although one will be coming shortly. This is a reply to a review with a few things I felt like I needed to address.**

 **The review was posted by user OmegaEleven and it said:**

 **Okay, i have mixed feelings now, and i don't really want to be THAT guy, but i have to point out some things:**

 **chapter 4: 'everyone forgot they have a semblance: the chapter.' i guess you wanted to show how bad the White Lies are, or that guns can be dangerous even to people with Aura, but its like nobody thought about using their semblances or weapons, here they were just hopeless and reduced to tears.**

 **chapter 5: 'if you look at me like that, i will break(mentally)': if Kyle is a PMC and was fighting the WL for a few years, is pretty much a given that he saw some sh*t, and people are going to give him the stare( be terror, fear, hate, etc.), and unless Kyle and his unit neither saw much action on the field or were deployed in urban areas, his breakdown seems a bit weak.**

 **chapter 6: 'why he didn't ask Kyle?': Beacon got attacked, and some students got killed or badly injured by an unknown group, and a different one seems to know the first one and fought them, so why Oz is not asking questions?, or is not a priority to gather intel of the attackers? heck Ironwood is a army officer and deals with security for the festival later on, is his job to know about possible threads and be prepared, or else it will cost lives.**

 **chap7: nothing much to say, still no proper introduction or more info of the WL, we are like 4-5 chapters in since they attacked and still the only thing we know is "the most dangerous terrorist organization" or something like that, so far they do things 'for the evulz' or want to act like the guys in CoD MW, the GLA or even ISIS.**

 **okay, that was what pretty much all what i wanted to say in terms of critic, complaining or whatever, you can call it just rambling and ignore it if you like, i don't know, maybe you were planning on expanding the setting more in the next chapter(s) and im shooting myself in the foot. in any case i will still keep an eye on this, because i don't see a reason to really drop this. with that said, see yah.**

 **END**

 **OmegaEleven, Thank you. Seriously, thank you. People have been kind to me thus far, and its good to get some negative criticism (at least if its constructive). If I made a story that everyone loved, I would cash that in and live like a king. Instead, I have OFTM, a huge lump of crap that I'm using to expand my knowledge of writing and is holding my attention. I'm enjoying writing it.**

 **Ch4: Well, yeah, good point. But, they have never seen anyone killed before. An attack that fast and quick. Think about it, they survive gunshots, explosions, melee weapons all due to aura, and now someone in front of them died in one shot. Big shock, no?**

 **Ch5: Nope. Kyle joined the army at 16, 6 months training (or around that, due to info from member of the Royal Regiment of Scotland), went on active deployment after that (not front line, can't do that until 18 years of age as far as I know) where *spoiler* happened and he was sent home, and was recruited by the XARC just before he turned 17. He had to train and get comfortable with them before he actually went out with them, which was going to be explained down the line cause the story is still very much so in its intro stage. He's still very young, and while it may be easy for a Soldier to kill in front of other soldiers, doing it in front of Civilians is very different. I know someone who had to go through this and it is the very reason they left the army. 'His breakdown seems a bit weak'? Yeah, that's the idea. Taking life is not easy, even for people like this.**

 **Ch6: I actually didn't like this Chapter and it was changed a lot, but after consulting a friend (who also writes on this site) and my girlfriend, it was uploaded. A Soldier who is not on his own turf will be very unwilling to answer questions. I'm not saying Ozpin had no right, but Kyle would be apprehensive.**

 **Ch7: Patience! Things will happen! And this was more of just an explanation chapter. Chapter 8 will hopefully be longer (writing this reply before the chapter is done) but this story will be getting a lot of development. I would put chapters out faster, but having a full time job, and trying to pass my Theory and Driving Test is taking up a lot of my time.**

 **I'm sure that there are a few issues in the story that neither of us addressed, but whatever. It's , not CinemaSins. Mistakes are made, explained, resolved or left abandoned. I'm glad you brought this up and I hope people continue to do so.**

 **Thank you all for reading my story.**

 **-Monster**


	9. Chapter 8

**Embracing my inner Scarce, this could be a double upload!... maybe idk.**

 **Hope you all enjoy**

One For The Money - Chapter 8

Ruby wasn't so sure about what had exactly happened. Beacon Medical personnel had gone sprinting through the lunch hall screaming to each other and carrying lots of medical equipment. Naturally, Ruby, her team, JNPR and basically the whole of Beacon, including the exchange students had followed them watching from a distance. What had them riled up so much? Did it have anything to do with those alarms earlier, calling for those... 'people' to head out and do something? Whatever it was, Ruby wanted to know, especially if it involved Kyle. She desperately wanted to speak to the young soldier for the last 5 days, but she hadn't seen him at all. She asked one of his colleagues, 'Dawn' she had introduced herself as, if she could speak to him but she had replied in a way that didn't make her hopeful.

 _"I don't know if that's a good idea. He's not exactly a... People person. Shit, it took him days after he met me to at least look in my direction. Give it time."_

A bullhead engine screaming towards them took away her attention. It slammed down on the landing pad, the door already opening, making a loud thud. Two dark figures emerged from the back. One that the entire school recognised as 'him'. Snapper. To Ruby, he was Kyle. He was supporting someone on his arm who was limping heavily.

Was that Dawn? Was that blood?

"We got wounded!" Kyle yelled as the two hobbled towards the Medics and the crowd of students. "Gunshot wound to the right thigh and shoulder, she's bleeding pretty bad!"

"Give her here!" One of the Medics yelled, two of them grabbing Dawn and support each of her arms over their shoulders, the woman crying out as her wounded limb was moved. They ran away back into the school with her, the crown moving aside. Ruby saw the injuries up close and cringed. The Soldiers black leather jacket was now covered in blood that was dripping from the right arm and collar area. Her dark maroon leggings were also now a darker red, one side missing it's original holsters and pouches that Ruby remembered from their meeting. The woman was groaning to herself in a language Ruby didn't recognise, the words making her worry increase by a tenfold. The medics and the soldier reached the academy entrance and piled inside, disappearing from view.

"That looked bad." commented Blake, all them staring at the door where they had just disappeared.

"Way too much blood for someone who should have an aura..." Weiss thought out loud.

Ruby turned around to look at Kyle, who had stopped running, staring at the door like the rest of them. His eyes were red and he was breathing heavily. He dropped his Rifle to the floor with a clatter, a hand going to his eyes to rub them, as if he was tired, stressed or about to cry. Ruby, unsure of what she was doing herself, stepped forward and before Yang - who had reached out her hand in shock - or Kyle could stop her, she wrapped her arms around the Young Soldier.

There was a few moments of nothing, in which nearly everyone besides the two at attention held their breath.

"Hey... Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you hugging me?"

"Did I do something wrong?"

There was a few moments of heavy silence before Kyle replied - and to the shock of everyone - returned the hug.

Kyle had, unsurprisingly, never been much of a hugger. But there was something about the shorter girls arms that made him feel safer. And feeling safe after a serious operation was always an odd, sometimes unachievable reality.

"Thanks."

They broke the hug, Kyle now back to using one of his hands to wipe his eyes. He composed himself, then smiled to Ruby. She was saddened that the smile never reached his eyes.

"Kyle... What happened? Is Dawn okay?"

Kyle hesitated for a second, looking into the young eyes of the naive student with a somewhat nostalgic feeling. "I sure hope so Ruby."

"She'll be fine, the girls been through far worse and you know it Snapper," said a new voice from behind Kyle. The new person, a white man with a short brown beard, blue cap and a military style headset with the microphone pushed up away from his mouth. He walked up, a very real smile on his face but there was still concern in his eyes. "Seriously, I've worked with Regiment guys and I'd rather take a beating from one of them than her, bloody she-devil!" This brought a slight laugh from Kyle, not so much the the Beacon Students, mot knowing what a 'Regiment' guy was. Behind the new comer was another bearded individual, but instead of a cap he had his short brown hair showing and a sizeable scar on the side of his neck and face. He walked up to their circle and placed his hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"Thank you for your concern, but our colleague will be fine," He motioned to the others, now all of the XARN minus Dawn. "Come on, we need to speak to the Professor."

He walked through the students, every XARC member except Kyle following immediately because Ruby had grabbed his arm.

"Kyle, what's happening?"

He looked at Ruby, then her team, her friends, then the entire group. He untangled himself, picked up his rifle and followed his fellow contractors.

"We're going to war, and unfortunately you're all coming with us."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ozpin stood on the Auditorium stage and gazed over his students. People he had taught for years, exchange students that were only temporarily in his school. Part of him was screaming to not do what he was about to do, to not let this person do this...

But he had to. It was for their own good. He glanced behind him, where all the non-injured XARC contractors stood to attention. Their clothing and armour was on, some looking dirty and one of them, Kyle's, bloody. They stared out onto the students below, with either passive or hidden expressions. Ozpin turned forward again and addressed the awaiting audience of people he wished would never have to do and see what they were about to.

"I've gathered you all here today, because we face dire circumstances." His students looked on at him, either with stoic or scared expressions. By now, all of them had heard about the XARC members and what they - specifically one - were capable of. But no one had any idea how they could kill people with no regard for aura, who or what they were and where they had gone to have one come back in dire need of medical attention and for another, 'Him', to receive and return a hug and assurance from the leader of one of the first year teams. "Nearly a week ago, you defended our home from the biggest Grimm attack in a city for many years. However, on that day, a new threat also appeared. One that is human in origin, with weapons that can harm individuals with no regard for their Aura, as if it wasn't even there. A terrorist organisation known as 'The White Lie'. And no, they have nothing to do with the White Fang. I shall now allow Major Jonathan Carter to continue." He stepped aside, allowing a man wearing a black bulletproof vest, a black jacket and black Multicam trousers to take over. He looked over the students with an expression that was a mixture of concern and disapproval. He was feeling slightly worried over what they were about to see, but he got over it fast. It wasn't the first time he had felt like he was about to send hundreds of people to their deaths.

"As the Professor said, I am Major Carter of Xavier's Assault Recon Corporation, commonly referred to the the XARC. We are a Private Military Organisation that has spent years taking on the White Lie organisation, with loss of life on both sides of the spectrum." He stopped, letting his words sink in. The young Hunters and Huntresses just kept looking at him and he continued. "The way we fight is different to yours. Our bullets kill people, and their bullets kill us," he lowered his head and grinned at the next sentence, making nearly every single student gasp or at least show some sigh of shock. "And we are the best killers that money can buy. Private Black, you're up."

Kyle stepped forward, glad his expression, one filled with worry, was hidden behind his balaclava. "Thank you sir." He said as Kyle stepped back. He did his best to ignore the disgusted looks sent his way by some of the audience, feeling slightly better after seeing Ruby give him a smile. "About 6 hours ago the area known as The Safe in Vale was attacked by the White Lie. Every worker, guard and hunter inside the facility was killed." He stopped, really not wanting to say the next sentence, especially with the cries and whimpers caused by the knowledge of death. "The counter attack was orchestrated by members of the Atlas Military, who gave us full authority to go in and deal with the issue. Every Lie terrorist was killed or have been captured and are now in the hands of the Military who currently have them under... Let's call it Witness Protection. The incident was recorded on the camera I have mounted on my helmet and will now be shown to you. You all need to know what this threat is, so you have a chance to fight it." Kyle stepped aside, hearing the projector wirr into life. He didn't bother to pay the recording too much attention. He had lived through it, after all...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Bullhead was flying low over the buildings as it headed towards their destination. Kyle half-heartily hummed 'Ride of The Valkyries' to himself, the situation somewhat similar to that of the famous scene from 'Apocalypse Now'.

"Team 2 is about 30 minutes out, what's the game plan boss?"

"Go in and make some noise, show these bastards we still mean business!"

Kyle was strapped into the seat of the bullhead, his 416 clipped to the two-point Magpull sling he had slung over his solider. Him, Carter, Dawn and Dunk were on their way to this place called 'The Safe', some big Private Storage space owned by some big company called the SDC.

The White Lie had finally made their move.

With the initial attack and the fight currently going on to retake the area, General Ironwood and seen fit to request help from the XARC, seeing as they had more experience with the attacks.

"30 seconds to drop off, good luck down there!" yelled the Pilot over the radio.

"Hey Snapper?" yelled Dunk over the sound of the vehicle.

"Yeah?"

"What do you call a White Lie terrorist with no arms or legs?"

Kyle grinned. Always the same joke with Dunk.

"A good start?"

The squad laughed. Always the same joke. What do you call a terrorist, gangster, bomber, corrupt official, drug dealer with no arms or legs? A good start. Always good to have a 'happy' feeling before a firefight. Increased the chances of you getting out alive, and how people remembered you if you didn't.

Kyle pulled back the rifle's bolt, checked the safety on and stood up, letting the gun hang. His colleagues had already stood up. The rest, Archie and Gray, were on a second bullhead with other Atlas personnel, just under half an hour behind Team 1, who were about to on site...

Now.

The vehicle slammed down, the team unfazed, used to rough Transport Helicopters. The back end opened and the 4 of them rushed out. Atlas had set up a small command point, so they were allowed a little bit more breathing time before entering. They were approached by a small group, Kyle recognising General Ironwood at the head. Carter instantly spoke before time could be wasted on pleasantries.

"General, what's the situation?"

"Whole area is on lockdown, every man we're sending is coming back covered in either one of his squads or his own blood... I'm not going to lie Major, we're in bad shape here."

Kyle walked around the group, taking out a pair of Spotting Binoculars out from his backpack. The Atlas forces had blocked off the road with two large armoured Police Vans, being used as cover by the Atlas troops. He joined them, ignoring their looks and questions. He leaned around the van, saw the corpses littering the road and raised his binoculars. If they couldn't approach, then that could mean...

"Sniper. 500 metres, North-North-West, top left window of grey building. Dawn, a hand please?"

The French woman grinned, her glasses hiding the devilish look in her eyes. She took cover behind the truck opposite Kyle, laying on the group, setting up her rifles Bipod. While a HK417 was not usually a Sniper, more of a DMR, Dawn had basically re-built the weapon from the ground up, making it far more stable and accurate that most of her competition, whilst keeping the decent firerate with enough stopping power to penetrate body armour. Kyle waited until she was properly set up, her eye on the scope and her finger resting on the trigger guard. He zoomed in on his helmet camera, Carter told him to record the entire fight, and got to work.

"See that one I spotted?"

"Moment... Yup."

There was a crack as her rifle struck, Kyle receiving mixed emotions as the blood sprayed from the Insurgent.

"Good kill. Next, two on top of the building opposite, North-North-East, next to that water-tower like guard post."

 _"Bon Endroit."_ Crack. Crack. "That's two more Liar Bastards to push up the Daisy's. Any more?"

Kyle scanned the area. The buildings, the windows, roof tops, the wall at the end of the road... Nothing? "I don't know Dawn. Something is telling me that's not everything."

"Mind playing bait?"

Kyle sighed. God, he hated this job...

"See that car, 10 meters away?"

Kyle leaned out from beside the truck. The car was a small grey thing, it looked like it had been quickly abandoned, the driver door still open and the dash lights all still on. "You couldn't find cover that doesn't, oh I don't know, explode?", he replied with his words dripping with sarcasm. "But you know what?"

He stepped back a few feet, confusing the Atlas soldiers even more. Just what was this guy about to do?

"Fuck it."

Kyle broke out from cover and charged towards the car. The idea was to make the sniper try to take a shot, exposing themselves from cover. He had to keep going until he reached the cover or until Dawn yelled...

"Drop!"

Oh for fucks sake.

Kyle hit the deck hard, still cringing as his protected knees hit the stone covered concrete. He felt a round fly through the air only a few feet away from his, slamming into the ground and kicking up a few stones. He dragged himself to his hands and knees, scrambling forward some more before throwing himself behind the car. He grabbed his radio and yelled into the mic.

"Got him?"

...crack. "Got him. Good going Snapper."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The video on the screen paused, Kyle once again walking onto the stage. Ruby wondered why he still had his helmet and mask on, and then why his weapon was hanging by its side. He just stood and stared out at the audience, as if he were inspecting them. Ruby saw that most were in shock of what was on the screen, specifically the Atlas Students. Their military, brave and bold soldiers capable of amazing feats, and been forced into a stalemate with an unknown enemy and then the situation was cleared in less than five minutes by another group of soldiers who had only fired 4 shots. Ruby saw her team was holding themselves together well, Weiss included despite being from Atlas, waiting for Kyle to continue with near expressionless faces. This was only worrying in Yang's case, but she seemed okay. Ruby knew when her sister was down, and this was not that time. Kyle cleared his throat on the stage, gaining all their attention again.

"This was not the first time we've seen this tactic used, the Lie taking over an area, covering the entrances, or entrance in this case, with Snipers and setting up the inside for a siege. There are many ways to deal with this situation. Where I'm from, there is a saying that goes 'Violence is not the only option, but it is an option'. With the White Lie, violence is nearly always the only option. Pretty standard for Nihilistic Terrorists." Ruby didn't exactly like how Kyle said these things so casually, with little care. Was he numb to these situations? Was he not affected by death, or his wounded friend currently in the medical bay? Or did he just hide it well, under his mask and a wall of crushing hatred and regret? Ruby decided, right then and there that she would find out the answer and make sure that Kyle's anger would not be the end of himself. He walked off the stage, the video skipped forward slightly, and it continued.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Two targets spotted." said Dunk over the radio. Kyle raised his hand to his radio on his rig, replying.

"Where do you see them?"

"Over by the building on the left, entrance. They haven't spotted us yet. Looks like they're packing... Assault Rifles. Plate Carriers. Take them out together."

"Roger that Dunk." Kyle raised his rifle to his soldier. They had moved all the way up the road, the Contractors split into different groups, all flanked by Atlas military. Now with solid knowledge that they could counter this situation, they were much more ready to do so. Kyle adjusted the gun until the Aimpoints T2 sight was right on one of the Insurgents heads.

"Got the one on the left."

"Copy, the right guy is mine. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1."

Kyle pressed the trigger, send a single round towards the terrorists head. The shot was successful, sending up a spray of blood and other shit against the wall behind the terrorist. His companion suffered the same treatment, the two now collapsed on the ground.

"Good kills, move up."

Kyle and Dunk both approached the building, scanning their surroundings with a well-practiced routine. The Atlas soldiers followed closely behind, most trying to ignore the big red puddles on the ground and against the wall. They stacked up against the buildings door, listening to the inside. Voices were heard inside, but they couldn't tell what was being said, until their was a scream and a gunshot. Kyle reached for his radio again with his left hand.

"Predator Actual, gun shot heard at building we're currently at, possibly civilian execution, over."

"Actual Copies, clear to engage but watch your fire, their could be more inside. 4 and I are about to engage enemy at the North Warehouse, radio silent, how copy over."

"Copy that Major, going radio silent, over."

He took his hand away from his radio and back to his rifles handguard. Dunk was busy formulating an idea, Kyle letting the more experienced man have his think.

"Okay Snapper, pretty standard here. Breach and Clear, watch your fire, maybe take someone alive for a chat afterwards, regroup on me when you're done."

"Understood. Got any flash on you?"

"Yeah, but you use yours, I'm saving mine for a rainy day."

Kyle fake hmph'd. "Cheap bastard..."

One of the Atlas Soldiers stepped up to Dunk. "Pardon me sir, but what are we to do?"

"Follow us in, half on me and half on Snapper. Check your corners, clear all the rooms, calling out every room you've check until the whole place is empty. Got it?"

"Yes sir, you can count on us."

Kyle readied the grenade. This style of Grenade, an impact concussion grenade, pretty much explained itself. Went off on impact, made a loud noise and a bright flash. Kyle tested the doors handle, making it open about a foot threw the grenade in and waited for the...

Bang.

He charged the door, quickly sighting and putting down a stunned Liar in the hallway with a burst of automatic fire after dropping onto one knee.

"Hallway clear."

"Move up, you get the left room I got the right."

Kyle quickly marched to the door, his gun firmly planted in his shoulder. Without a seconds wait, no giving its occupants more time to prepare, he gave the door an almighty kick. Inside, a terrorist was using a human shield, returning fire with his pistol while his other held up the hostage. All his shots missed the young Contractor, but one of the Atlas Soldiers not so lucky, his helmet providing little protection as a .45 ACP round went through his temple. The Liar had left himself far too exposed however, Kyle's first counter shot hitting his shoulder causing him to drop the gun and the hostage. Instead of a second shot from Kyle's gun, the next attack came from a brutal smack to the temple by his rifle, knocking him unconscious. After a quick inspection, it appeared that the human shield was already dead, a nasty shot to the back of the head. Kyle quickly zip-tied the hands of the knocked-out insurgent and stood up, checking the rest of the room.

"Clear!"

Then he heard a cry of pain over the radio.

"This is Carter, Dawn has been hit, I repeat, Predator 3 has been hit! Requesting immediate support!"

Kyle went to reply but was interrupted by movement in the corner of his eye. A terrorist peeking round the corner of another door attached to the room. Kyle dropped behind the closest form of protection, a big arm chair, cringing as the rounds from the terrorist went over his head. Too close for comfort.

"Dunk! Dawn's hurt! We have to go help her!"

He pulled another grenade from his pouch and lobbed it over the chair towards the door. He heard his attacker curse before the bang, and leapt up and moved quickly towards the door, not giving the terrorist one moment to recover. He reached the door and ended up with his rifle right in the face of the still dazed terrorist.

Double Tap. The rounds slammed into the man's head, sending blood and brain matter across the walk behind him like some kind of fucked up modern art; disgusting and with little form. Kyle turned away quickly, not because he was sickened by the site but because of another important matter on his mind.

"Predator 6 copies, heading to assist!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I understand that Hunters are not military," Kyle continued, walking back on the stage for the last time. "I understand that you are all your own people, with your own reasons for fighting. I also know that you are trained to fight the monsters you call Grimm. And not to take human life. Well you know what?"

Kyle stood up slightly straighter and yelled. "Fuck that shit!"

Ruby, along with everyone else, gasped. What was going on here?

"People are dying! Your peace is being threatened by people who are the definition of Psychopathic Evil Bastards, and it is up to us to teach you how to combat these fuckers!"

Kyle paced along the stage a bit, letting himself calm down. Ruby could only imagine what things he had seen and done to bring on these serious emotions.

"I also know that many of you have friends and family in the city, and that you want to help them. Well, now is your chance. This is not a military school, and we are not exactly a military. But, for your safety and the survival of the people, you will now receive extra lessons from me and my comrades to help you tackle this threat. But make no mistake, we are at the forefront of the fight against the White Lie. And we are going to do our best to make sure none of you have to see your friends die at the hands of those terrorists. We have gone through it, so innocent people don't have to..."

Kyle looked over the students. He saw lots of expressions, mixtures of uneasiness, hatred, surprise and most strangely, gratitude. Over all, be saw that he had received a bad reception. Well, he couldn't make this any worse... He hoped he was making the right choice here.

"A few years ago, the White Lie committed the atrocity we call the 'Black Friday Gas Attack'. The day, Black Friday, was the biggest day of shopping in the world. So, the White Lie decided to launch a Chemical Attack against shopping centres, malls, and other places such as Airports and Sport Stadiums all over the world. The overall casualties was over fifty thousand people, innocent people, of all cultures and nationalities all over the world, in only one day. Why did they do this? Because they want to destroy the fucking world. And unless you want the same thing to happen to your home, you have to help us. Unless you're all a bunch of cowards who think being the 'saviours of the world' is a fucking joke. Anyway, Thank you for listening." Kyle turned and walked off the stage and through the audience, everyone staring as he walked. He walked out the door and Ruby, without really knowing what she was doing, followed. Her team followed behind her, ignoring the speech currently being given by Ozpin trying to defuse the situation and giving more solid information about the coming teaching. Ruby activated her Semblance, racing to where Kyle had walked, suddenly appearing beside him. His hand instantly went for his sidearm, which was then pointed at her until he realised who it was, promptly lowering it.

"Damnit Ruby... I almost shot you in the face..."

"Sorry Kyle, but I have talk to you."

"We all do," said Weiss as she and the rest of team RWBY walked up to them. "Starting as to what is happening."

Kyle stood still for a few moments, as if deciding what to do next. He then raised his lowered arm to his belt, placing his handgun back in its holster. He stretched his arms above his head, groaning slightly. It had been a really long day.

"You guys wanna get something to eat? I'm starved."


	10. Chapter 9

**Thanks to Hentai_Rampag3 (please change your name for the love of god...) for helping me with this chapter. He writes Roman so well its unreal.**

One For The Money - Chapter 9

Kyle and Carter stood on either side of the three captured terrorists. They were on a Bullhead, en route to Ironwood's ship to discuss what was going to happen to the three men currently bagged and tagged on the floor between them. Their cuffs were right enough to make their wrists bleed, the sacks over their heads dirty enough to make their breathing ragged and to make them cough and splutter like sick children. However, the two contractor were not too bothered about 'Sanitary Conditions' for Nihilistic War Criminals who were responsible for so much death and destruction on Earth, and for their beloved French Sniper, Dawn, to be currently lying in a hospital bed with a broken collar bone and a 7.62 round still stuck in her right thigh. Despite being in close proximity with people he would quite happily shoot in the face, Kyle was actually a little bit excited, Ironwood's ship was straight out of a science fiction movie, a giant aircraft carrier like vessel that loomed over the city like a god, but with more firepower.

Besides, they also had something extra planned.

"We're putting a lot on you here Kyle, sure you can handle this?"

Kyle looked over at his commanding officer who had just asked his the question. His facial scar made his look permanently angry, but Kyle know he was just feeling legitimate concern over their plan. Also known as 'Operation Night Terrors'.

"Yes sir. Talk to objective 'Candlelight', see what he can tell us, but do it quietly. Don't alert Ironwood or any of his boys, at least the ones we haven't payed to move the objective to a place we can talk without being seen or heard. If I get located, I just saw I was inspecting the security of the cell's. If the objective gets found, I'll put a bullet in him, saying I was chasing an escaped prisoner.

Carter hmm'd in response. Their plan was pretty simple, if not a little far-fetched. Definitely not the best plan either, but it'll do. They needed some Local Talent, people like them who had good experience and didn't mind getting their hands dirty. Problem was, most people like that here, in a place where Aura could heal a person from near death apparently, would be locked up or working for the highest bidder. But after Kyle's talk with team RWBY, they had an idea on where to find said talent.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

*Yesterday, after the XARC speech*

"Do you not like the food Kyle?"

"Ruby, I've only eaten MRE's for the past 3 months, this is a nice change, seriously."

They were sitting in the school cafeteria eating the food made by the school staff. Typical High School 'brainfood' that reminded Kyle of his school years. Not that he really want to remember those years...

"I have to ask you something," said the black haired girl on Ruby's team. "If you don't mind that is?"

"Blake right?"

"Yeah."

"Sure, ask away. I'll answer what I can."

"What's a Chemical Attack."

Kyle's hand that held his fork stopped in place, half way to his mouth. He stared into Blake's eyes, ignoring the concerned yet curious expressions on the people around him. He had received many questions from people about his fight against the White Lie, what were they like, what was their gear like, did Kyle regret any of his choices, and even was asked by a SF Lieutenant only slightly older than him, fresh out of college, if in the middle of a 'battle' he ever suffered from PTSD, freezing up and doing a thousand yard stare thing. He never knew whether to laugh or cry when he thought about that moment.

But never had he just been asked about the Black Friday Gas Attack. Where he was from, everyone knew what it was. The entire planet had been shell-shocked into war, nearly turning on themselves and each other in an attempt to maintain order. All the details were very well known.

So how the hell would he answer this question?

Simple, as always. The truth.

"Um... Basically the White Lie planted explosives and Nerve Gas around the world, in many different locations. All the bombs went off at exactly the same time, which was estimated to be around 13:48 Pacific Standard Time. Over fifty thousand people died, many more receiving horrible illnesses from the Gas after the attack was over."

"...I'm sorry I asked, I didn't mean anything by it."

"It's fine, I've al-

"Pardon me kid," said a new voice, a female wearing sunglasses, beret and brown jacket sitting down across from Kyle. "But I have to ask something we're all thinking. What's nerve gas?"

Kyle stared at this newcomer like he had Blake, a mixture of curiosity and something close to suppressed annoyance. He kind of liked her directness compared to Blake's somewhat half-assed apology. She reminded him of Cotton, who he seriously missed. Well, maybe him, not his annoying flirting and passion for the '#Sesh'.

"And who are you?" countered Kyle.

"Coco Adel, CFVY Team Leader and someone you and your friends will be teaching. So, what is it? Some kind of chemical?"

Kyle thought about the question for a long moment. Or at least he was pretending to do so. In truth he was suppressing a serious urge to laugh and walk away. Was that a bad sign? Probably, but he already knew that he was fucked mentally, held together by weak string that was his affinity for guns and the durable cable ties that was his love for his family. After an appropriate amount of time that had everyone's imagination running wild, he answered.

"The gas used in the attacks, a favourite of the White Lie, is called 'White Lazarus'. They like it because of the snowy white colour that goes with their name, and the utter death and destruction. Basically, the bomb goes off and their is a minor explosion, nothing too major. Then the gas comes out, usually sprayed around like an aerosol canister. If you inhale it, you die."

Everyone was silent. Nearly all the movement in the cafeteria had stopped, listening to the Contractors calm explanation. Eventually Weiss quietly managed to ask the question that was on everyones mind, the one Kyle really didn't want to answer, but would anyway.

"What happens when you inhale the gas?"

"Well... about 15 seconds after inhaling the Chemical your nose will start to run. It will start to bleed after 20 and your eyes will start to hurt too. Then your chest will start to tighten and your pupils will shirk, limiting your ability to properly see and breathe. About 35 seconds in you lose control of your body and start to violently shake, most of your nerves feeling like they're on fire. At 45, your lungs burst from the pressure and you die. By all accounts, it's a horrendous, agonising way to die."

There was dead silence, interrupted by Jaune throwing up over the table. Kyle expected a worse reaction. He turned his attention back to his food, his appetite not fully destroyed just yet.

"Guess you don't really have Mass-Terrorism here? At least on that scale?"

"Actually," replied Blake. "We do have terrorism. But as you said, not on that scale. We were actually fighting some when you arrived."

"Kill any?" Kyle asked calmly.

"No, our weapons can't penetrate aura. Except yours. And...".

Blake had a strange expression on her face, as if she was remembering a painful memory. Kyle was worried about that memory, he had lots of experience with past demons. He decided to quickly changed the subject.

"Ah, so most of them are in custody now I suppose? Or ran off?".

"Hey, that reminds me," said the blonde girl, Yang, who had just gotten back after helping a red haired girl assist the 'ill' Jaune. "We totally need to celebrate getting Torchwick!"

"Who's that?" questioned Kyle. "Some crazy terrorist?"

"Not exactly, he's just some mercenary working for the White Fang that was a big player in their plans. He probably wasn't in charge, but he still did a lot of bad things too."

"As in what? Kill people?"

"Maybe? No one actually died from the Grimm attack, only some bad injuries. So, not, he's just a bad guy really. Who got arrested."

"He's far from 'just a bad guy'," countered Blake. "He's still hurt, stole, and caused massive amounts of damage around the city. And believe me, I say he is very capable of killing someone."

This got Kyle thinking. Someone who did work in that line of duty, or in their case self-preservation, because of their own self interest, didn't mind getting their hands dirty and were capable enough to stand up, if not defeat, a military organisation.

"Sounds like a bad person really,"' stated Kyle. "Someone very bad indeed."

And exactly the kind of person the XARC would recruit.

"Thank you all for the food and talk. Now if you'll all excuse me, I have to speak to my colleagues about something..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It had been a few minutes since the Atlesian soldiers had hauled him out here; not that the transition from a cramped, dark cell to a cramped, starkly lit one hadn't been absolutely thrilling, but Roman Torchwick was still as bored as he had been for the past few… hours? Days?

Did it matter?

He twiddled his gloved thumbs, whistling an improvised tune as he jangled the single manacle on his wrist in rhythm against the steel table it bound him to. The light above was angled directly into his eyes, casting his pale skin in a fiery glow while obscuring the door ahead in harsh shadow. He was a bit confused as to why the soldiers taking him here did so in a hurry, as if they didn't want to be seen. They told him he had a visitor. That wasn't part of Cinder's plan. As long as he made it out of this whole 'changing the world' business alive, he and Neo, then that was all that mattered.

The door opened with a loud hiss, and a figure cast in silhouette entered the cell. Whatever illumination had been cast from the hallway outside disappeared as the door closed just as quickly, and Roman found himself squinting through the light to try and make out any details of his visitor. Average height, lean, cropped hair, and that was about all he could discern; the outline of whatever armor his visitor wore wasn't broad enough to be Atlesian.

Then he said… something to him.

"Umm…" For what was one of few moments in his life, Roman was at a loss for words, " …Can you repeat that?"

"Are. You. Roman. Torchwick?"

The voice was male, and young. The accent… Roman had never heard anything like it.

"The one and only," he answered nonetheless, "Now, just from your accent I can tell you're not from Vale, so I suppose I should be complimented that you've heard of me in… whichever kingdom you're from."

The silhouette laughed humorlessly, "Not in my kingdom, no, but the people in this one won't shut up about the beasts you unleashed on them."

"Ahhh, right; my diabolical scheme, foiled by those meddling kids," Roman complained melodramatically, "It's a shame I was asleep the entire time, I heard a different group of white-masked terrorists showed up during all the-"

"We both know it wasn't your scheme," the silhouette chuckled, "I know a ringleader when I see one… and I also know a man who's in it for the money." Roman chewed on his teeth, wishing he had a cigar. The figure still hadn't stepped into the light. Right now, his visitor held all the cards, and he needed to even the odds before he lost all the chips.

"Listen kid," he sighed, "If you're going to try and pick me apart, could you at least get me a smoke?" To Roman's surprise, the figure rummaged for a moment before laying a cigarette on the table, his hand gloved with the logo of a skull topping two crossed rifles; Roman knew the emblems of most of the various syndicates and factions that prowled Remnant, but that was a new one, which made this whole 'interview' even stranger. The visitor's arms were bare, black sleeves rolled to the elbows as he flicked a lighter stamped with a blue flag crossed with stripes red and white, and lit the smoke as Roman inhaled gratefully.

"I was holding that for a friend," the visitor said, retracting his hand back into the shadows, "He'll be crossed to hear I misplaced it, but hey; a favor for a favor."

"A friend, huh?" Roman breathed the smoke out slowly, savoring the only tobacco he'd had in too long; it didn't taste like any cigarette he'd ever had.

Just like the accent. Just like the emblem.

"He's a good friend; brash, bit of a flirt, good with a gun. It's a dangerous world, and he's just the kind of friend I like to have watching my back. I came to you, Roman Torchwick, because I'm looking for more friends, and I think you're the kind of man that can help me with that."

Just like that, the deck had been completely reshuffled.

"If you're coming to me looking for friends, I'd question the company you keep," he said, "I might know some people, but I'm gonna need more than a smoke."

"I need people," the visitor spoke, dropping his voice, "That will kill for money, and keep the questions to a minimum. In fact, there might be a lot of money involved."

Roman saw opportunity as soon as it presented itself; he didn't know why this stranger needed the kinds of friends that he did, but there was a way to find out, and make some money in the process.

"Lucky you," he said, "I have a good friend myself; she likes killing, she likes money, and there won't be any questions… at all." He allowed himself a small smirk at the double entendre, even as the visitor's reaction wasn't visible.

"Maybe I can negotiate your release," he sounded pleased, "And you can introduce me to your friend."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Roman stubbed out the finished the cigarette against the steel, "Freedom would actually be counterproductive to my current goals at the moment, but I'll tell you what: Come back in a week. I'll get in touch with my friends, you'll show me the money, and you'll have what you need."

"Counterproductive?" the visitor audibly repressed a scoff, "I'd take you for a nutter if I didn't know how much you love money."

"You say you know all this about me, kid," Roman leaned forward in his chair, "Do you know how long I've been at this game? How many cells I've escaped from?" He didn't need to say anything else. He saw the silhouette nod after a few moments, slowly.

"Right," he said indifferently, "I'll be back in a week. I trust you'll have something for me."

He turned to leave. Roman debated asking for the visitor's name until the door opened, and as the stranger took a step into the hall he made his decision.

"Hey!" he called, and the stranger stopped midstep, "A name would be nice!"

"You can call me Black." With that, Black left Roman to his thoughts as the door hissed shut.

"…Black? Really?" Roman muttered, "…Well, I like him better than Cinder's little punk."

 **SYOC for XARC members is now closed. Unless you give me a character I will fall in love with, please no more XARC. Thanks for reading, love y'all.**

 **-Monster**


	11. Chapter 10

**Well... I'm back.**

 **It's been a while. A lot has happened in that time. From now on, I will try to stay active in my writing and keep producing this story. I was quite humbled when I received a couple messages from different readers asking about the new chapter, the story in general, even if I was okay.**

 **1\. Work has been pretty hectic. I celebrated the New Years bells standing in my works Front Counter area, drinking some cheap champagne.**

 **2\. My girlfriend and I celebrated our 6 month anniversary.**

 **3\. Operation Red Crow, Mid-Season Reinforcement for R6:Siege took up a LOT of my free time.**

 **4\. I passed my driving theory test. Fuck yeah.**

 **PREVIOUS CHAPTERS CURRENTLY UNDER EDIT. BULLSHIT REMOVAL okthxbai**

 **now, OFTM is back. New chapter coming soon!... I hope.**

One For The Money - Chapter 10

Carter sat at the teachers desk and signed deeply, his hands rubbing his tired eyes. He was used to training drills, briefing and debriefing on Operations and also gave the occasional pep talk to someone in the XARC who needed it. But sitting down at a teachers desk, in an actual classroom, about to give a an actual lesson to a handpicked group of both adults and pupils was something he had never thought he would do.

Well, along with all the 'traveling dimensions' and 'magic school' bullshit.

His Benelli M4 was lent against the desk casually, next to his rucksack and a few other items he had brought along. Im front of the desk was a table that had quite a few items on it, including guns, grenades, and a projector among other things. The class room was unlike anything he had ever seen, seating set up like a university or college but instead of just a desk and board at the front of the room, there was a group of werewolf like dummies on display. They were designed on the 'Beowolf' type of Grimm he had heard about and they had scratches and marks across them, showing him and his companions - support teachers - that they had been used before. And speaking of his companions...

Gray was berating Archie, as usual. And, as usual, it was about their 4th member, Kyle, who was sitting at the very back of the room with his headphones on and his eyes closed. Carter could hear the music playing from the front of the class room, knowing that the young soldier wouldn't hear the heckling being given to him by Gray. Luckily, as Gray was not holding back.

Whilst Carter was simply 'unsure' about Kyle and personally thought his own objections to the Boss were a bit harsh, Gray straight up hated the ex-British Infantryman. Why? No good reason as far as Carter knew, but he was aware of Gray's hunt to 'expose' Kyle and make everyone else hate him. He wasn't holding his breathe. He knew more about Kyle than anyone, even Mr Xavier, knew. He had lots of friends, many in high places. He was willing to trust him; for now. He was content to watch Gray blunder about on his stupid personal vendetta. He never really liked him, always keeping himself to himself, never properly interacting with his team and truly being here for personal gain alone. Carter decided he had had enough. He need to make a phone call anyway. After a quick 'Shut the fuck up' to an angry spluttering Gray, he called up the scrolls only non-XARC contact; Ozpin.

"Good morning Professor."

"Good morning Major. Are you and your men ready?"

"Yes sir. Who are we actually, uh, teaching today?" asked Carter, the question word feeling strange in his mouth.

"Myself, Miss Goodwitch, General Ironwood and one of his Lieutenants and a number of students who you and your men have either interacted with or have asked to be on this course."

Carter frowned - he expected less people for a first 'lesson' - but kept his annoyance out of his voice and replied. "Okay sir, send them in when you're all ready," he put the phone down and turned to the two men at his table. "...which means WE'RE meant to be ready you assholes, stop moaning and look like you actually know what the fuck you're doing."

"But boss, Snapper is-"

"Gray, I am aware that Kyle is asleep in the stands. Archie, go wake him. These people will be here any second."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Quietly looking at the faraway star tonight_

 _Deep inside there's a stormy sky, I won't cry_

 _Take my hand, deep inside there's a stormy sky_

 _And I keep asking, what's on the other side_

 _Take my hand, deep inside there's a stormy sky_

 _And I wonder, what's on the oth-_

Suddenly, silence.

Kyle slowly opened his eyes, knowing what, or who, had disrupted his Music. Because if it was nearly anyone else, his Glock would already be out.

"Hey Arch. The lesson finished yet?"

"You are a typical student you know that? No wonder Carter is wanting you to play pupil with these guys."

Kyle hmmp'd and put his phone away in his pocket. He stood up, stretched, and walked down the steeps to the front of the classroom to stand with Archie and his fellow contractors. As instructed earlier by Carter. He pretended not to notice the look of disappointment from the Ukrainian Soldier, because if looks could kill then Gray just got the most accurate, merciless headshot. He instead stood and waited, continuing to play the song he was just listening to in his head. The lyrics somewhat fitted to him and his situation.

 _Am I supposed to be great?_

 _To satisfy, everyone, with each of my breath?_

 _It haunts me like a ghost in the night._

 _It haunts me like I'm stuffed in the throat._

Edgy. Yet painfully familiar.

The door clicked open and he looked towards it to see Ironwood, followed by a woman in a uniform similar to his but she didn't walk with as much... certainty? She held her head high and looked down upon the four PMC's with something close to distaste but she seemed unsure about her situation. Scared? No. Distrust. Probably.

"Good morning gentlemen. This is Lieutenant Schnee, who is also going to be at this 'lesson'".

"Nice to meet you Gentlemen", his companion said, her face now one of strict, disciplined professionalism. "Is there anything you would like us to do to assist today's lesson?"

Archie stepped forward slightly, smiling. "No thank you, if you would please sit down somewhere whilst we wait for everyone else to get here and we shall start the lesson as soon as we're all ready."

"Splendid."

The General and his Lieutenant stepped away to find a seat in the front row, not hearing the short exchange between Kyle and Archie as the speaker stepped back, the young contractor whispering in his ear.

"Dat ass though."

"Dammit Snapper, you've spent too much time with Cotton."

The two quietly laughed together but composed themselves as Ozpin stepped in followed by quite a few people he recognised. Team RWBY, JNPR, Coco Adel and some other individuals they assumed were her team, and also a woman in a red dress with black hair, who walked over to then followed by a man in grey and another woman in green, both with matching hair.

"Hello there. I don't believe we have all meet. My name is Cinder Fall and thi-"

"That's great, now sit down," interrupted the already annoyed Carter. "We all got things to do anyway. Snapper, sit down among them."

"Yes sir."

Kyle walked towards the seating along with Cinder - who looked less than happy - and her two followers, leaning towards Cinder as they walked.

"Don't mind the Major, he's a good guy really. Just a bit of... you know."

"Its fine," replied Cinder, smiling as she talked. "I've been spoken to worse by worse people."

"Yup, they are plentiful these days."

"Quite."

They separated at the seats, Cinder and her team continuing up to the back while Kyle sat on his own nearer the front, away from all the others. It was time to get this wonderful train wreck on the tracks.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Aaaaaand he was bored.

How someone could explain how him and a group of others, who just happened to be a group of badass Privatised Soldiers, traveled through dimensions, possibly confirming the Multiverse Theory, to another universe in a way so goddamn boring he would never know. But somehow, the Major managed it.

Go team, yay...

Kyle sighed, letting himself sink into his seating. He felt himself start to slip away to sleep, understandable, as he had been awake until 3am typing a debrief up for Carter to read and look over, to decide what the team should do next. But to be honest, that took him barely any time at all. He had spent the remainer of the time listening to music and looking at pictures of guns on his phone. It was very theraputic.

His eyes began to close. He let himself slip away, Carter's words and the Remnant's peoples questions became nothing and he started to dream.

*2 years ago, somewhere in South America*

Kyle sat in the back of a Humvee's, trying to ignore the sweat dripping from under his helmet. His SA80 rifle leaning against the back of the seat in front of him, probably the cleanest and best maintained part of his gear. His Multicam uniform was stained with grime, and he was already dreading the verbal abuse he was going to receive off Sergeant Ryan, who was leading the four-vehicle convoy. Everyone was on edge, expecting enemy contact which had hit a sharp increase ever since the AFEUR had most of his forces decimated by the White Lie a few weeks back. The convoy, consisting of 2 leading Hummers with roof-mounted M2 Browning .50 Caliber 'Ma Deuce' GPMG's, a BTR that had been recently 'liberated' from an abandoned AFEUR checkpoint that had enough armour and guns to quite literally tackle a South African rebel group, and finally another Humvee in which Kyle was riding in, also with a GPMG. Lance Corporal Tracy was manning the gun, Kyle glad that they not only had such a weapon at their disposal but that the open hatch providing at least some air. Tracy was currently in conversation with the man in the passenger seat of the Humvee, Sergeant Ellison, and its driver, Private Dunbar. Kyle was not involved in the conversation with the older soldiers but he was slightly glad he wasn't. They didn't exactly get on with the 'New Blood'. The 'Dead Guy's Replacement'.

"4 months traveling around the Afghan Green Zone and suddenly straight into Columbia," stated Ellison, the squads only female soldier. "Shame, I had just spent so much time in Afghanistan I was gonna buy a house in Sangin. Seemed like I was spending all my fucking time there."

"Dunno about that Ellie," replied Tracy, lazily swinging his giant mounted gun around to free his hands. He pulled a cigarette and lighter out of his pocket, smoking on the job. "Last time I checked we had bombed all the houses. You might wanna stick with your boy-toys flat."

"First off, yeah good point. Second off, fuck you."

The trio laughed, Kyle allowing himself a silent smile under his tan balaclava. Despite disliking, no, being disliked by his squad he enjoyed listening to their banter. It was refreshing. Nicer on his mind than their heckling.

"What are we here for anyway?" asked Ellie, leaning forward in her seat to look out her window. "Let the BOPE or some other cunts handle the White Lie, not much of a challenge for them. Fucking terrorist cowards."

"Not exactly cowards Sarge," interjected Dunbar. "You ain't heard who's apparently manning the South African faction?"

"Nelson Mandela?"

"Funny. It's Lieutenant Commander Jacob Ross."

This made Kyle sit up and join in the conversation. "Really? He's finally resurfaced?"

The world knew about Jacob Ross. Ex-Navy Seal who went crazy, killed his entire platoon and helped create the worlds deadliest terrorist organisation ever. And, scariest of all, was known to be one of the masterminds behind the Black Friday attack.

"Who cares kid," Ellison sneered in reply, little respect in her voice for Kyle. "The Seals just get all the Hollywood Hype, I doubt they're as tough as they say. Plus, guys mentally unstable. He'd make mistakes. Mistakes get you killed."

"Really?" Kyle asked, not taking his 'superior' seriously at all. "You ever read his record? Silver Star, Purple Heart, more commendations than anyone could count, like fuck, even the Presidential Unit Citation. He was DEVGRU. Naval Special Development Group. It's not like they killed Bin Laden or anything right?"

"What are you, a terrorist fanboy?"

Kyle shook his head and settled back down into his seat. He hated Ellison. No other way about it. But what he hated more was her way of thinking. He knew from a long experience in school yard brawls and running from muggers and such in dark Glasgow alleyways that you never underestimated someone, never take something as how you initially saw it. It all ends badly. His eyes caught on the fireflies flying at the side of the dirtroad, plentiful and... very fast for fireflies.

Then one of them hit the front window, and he realised that they weren't fireflies. The window shattered and suddenly Ellison flew back, blood soaring from her chest as she screamed.

*Present Day, Beacon*

Kyle woke with a start his head hitting the desk with a thud causing the attention to come to him, followed by a certain little red head gasping. He groaned, rubbing his rapidly brushing face.

"Snapper, don't be the class clown," snarled Gray at the front of them room. "You're supposed to be a sol-"

"Sue me, dickhead," Kyle quickly snapped back, taking no crap from the older Ukrainian. "Why are we even here? We should be out there, hunting down terrorists like the fucking rats they are. But no, we have to stay here and play fucking Kindergarten Cop."

The room was filled with heavy silence. Kyle's outburst was just so sudden and serious that no one expected it. And few had the words to counter it, but one decided to try.

"Really? Pardon me, but what do you know about killing or fighting, other than that brutal mess on Beacon's landing pad and your little action movie which ended with a member of your squad on a hospital bed?"

The young PMC glared at the speaker, Ironwood's Lieutenant. Winter or something right? Not that he cared, just another 'All talk and no trousers' person. Like Sergeant Tia Ellison. Her talk never saved her from a bullet wound to the forehead.

"What do I know? More than you at least LT."

"Really? Well, what's it like to take human life?"

"I wouldn't know," Kyle replied, a cheeky smirk on his face. "I've only ever killed terrorists."

In the corner of his eye he saw Blake from Ruby's team become seriously pale, nearly shaking from what looked like fear or shock. He was about to make a mental note of this reaction, because it could mean something serious, but someone else reacted before he or Winter could react.

The door nearly flew off its hinges and stepped in one of the only people Kyle felt bad about talking rudely or 'challenging' at least in a bad way, towards. Dawn strode into the room, her passive face ignoring the confused and worried looks of her comrades. She was wearing a black sleeveless vest, her left arm in a sling with the collarbone covered in bandages and medical tape, while her right arm was uncovered, showing off the brightly coloured collage of tattoos that covered the entire arm down the the knuckles. She was massing her balaclava and cap, showing off her young slim face and blood red mohawk that made many military and government officials have a double-take. She sped down to the front of the room, grabbing some chalk from the holder next to the board and drew a hasty shape that somewhat resembled a human body. Satisfied, she turned around and locked eyes with Kyle again, the class watching her nearly in fear for her, her comrades not showing the some worry but were definitely confused over the situation, about ready to jump up and save her. What was she doing? How would the young soldier, who was very capable of killing someone, react?

"You see this? Imagine it's a terrorist. White Fang, White Lie, it doesn't matter. How do you react?"

To her satisfaction, Kyle's face was that of a challenging, in a good way, smirk. "Well, it really depends on the situation Dawn."

"Okay then. What would be your most common reaction?"

To this, Kyle slowly stood up. He turned and walked very slowly to the edge of the seats, every one of his steps very loud in the quiet room. Then, he truly moved.

He twisted and his left knee hit the ground with a thud. He ripped his Glock from its holster with his right hand which was then put out in front of him so his arm was nearly straight, his left hand coming to support the right. He sighted the head of the shape, breathed in slightly and...

Double Tap.

All in less than 2 seconds.

Shock ran through the students, cold and sudden. Ruby gasped as the shots smacked against the board less than a foot away from Dawn. Unlike her Crescent Rose, which made a satisfyingly audible noise as it was fired, Kyle's pistol was loud. As in extremely loud. Compared to the students weapons at least. Thuds that shook in her head and made her flinch. Dawn never even batted an eyelid as the rounds smacked against the board next to her while nearly everyone else packed, bringing out there weapons in such a rush it was like some of them materialised out of nowhere. There was more screaming and shouting for a few moments by those that were armed while the unarmed, calm people such as Ozpin, Glynda, Ironwood and surprisingly Ruby herself, until possibly the most innocent thing that could happen in that moment, happened.

Kyle walked down the steps, Dawn walked up. They met in the middle and gave the other a brief hug and exchanged a few words, to quiet for anyone besides a Faunus to perhaps hear. This exchange made everyone stop and stare at the two contractors in confusion. Didn't one just try to kill the other?

Eventually, with a teasing flick to Kyle's nose, causing him to grumble, Dawn walked back down the steps to the board, a proud smile on her face. She raised her good hand to touch to the two bullet holes on the board.

Both of which were dead centre in the quickly drawn man faces.

Ruby felt her hand shake slightly before it was gripped by Yang, who was sitting beside her. It wasn't her first time seeing a weapon like that up close, the last time being on the landing pad when... that happened. Kyle turned to look at her, their eyes locking for a moment, before he moved on, glancing around the whole class, taking all their emotions and facial expressions in as if the two shots he had fired were a survey.

"Double-Tap to the head," Dawn stated from the front of the room. "Even for a pistol, no matter the caliber, that will put anyone down, _Qui_?"

Kyle put his Glock back in the holster, hearing the familiar 'click' as the plastic gripped the metal, locking into place. He removed his hand from the weapon and crossed his arms.

"Wasn't the point of teaching to actually teach something that they could use when facing the Lie? First day orientation or not, this was starting to get irritating. We could at least do training that we're used to doing and just let them join in or something."

He started walking down the steps as he spoke, all eyes in the room on him. "So instead of this nonsense, why don't we go do some actual training, actual weapon practice, actually something that will mean something to stopping the Lie. Let the students get back to killing the Big Bad Wolves, the General back to whatever the hell Atlas actually does besides iron their uniforms and Ozpin go back to his boring daytime teaching job."

He hid a smirk as he felt the anger and confusion of the people in the stands come out either vocally or just radiate from their being. He picked up his rifle from the centre table before letting it hang from its sling over his body and picking up Dawn's rifle, the French Contractor smiling at him as he did so. She couldn't carry it with her collarbone being affected by unnecessary weight on her arms. Carter gave him a look that stated 'We'll talk about this later' by hoisted his Benelli over his shoulder and walked with from, followed shortly after by the Ukrainian Operative that was definitely hoping for Kyle to face some 'serious implications' for his actions. Kyle wasn't unsure of what was about to happen but as he walked out the door with his comrades, ignoring the shouts and calls from the room, he recalled something.

One of Murphy's Law. If something bad could happen, it would.

Why would that just pop in his head at this exact moment?

 _"Please be a coincidence, please be a coincidence, please..."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

His rifle spat another round out of its barrel, hitting one of the Lie soldiers in the gut. He went to give then another one, but his rifle clicked empty. The man cursed, his Irish-Boston accent showing clearly as he threw himself behind the cover next to his squad under a barrage of fire.

 _"Guess it's not only the XARC that aren't cheap with ammo. Well that's just perfect isn't it?"_

He clicked the R4-C's magazine release, letting the hex style mag fall to the floor, already forgotten in place of the fresh, and his last, mag that he pulled from his vest and slammed into his gun, pulling back the bolt and savouring the noise, remembering with a smile how much noises like that made his 'Little Brother' grin. Just above the magazine pouches on his vest was a small patch of Velcro where a number of patches were stuck, one featuring his nickname.

Cotton.

"On your left Beardy!" he called to one of his comrades taking cover behind a badly damaged concrete pillar.

'Beardy' quickly looked to his left, spotting the knife wielding terrorist charging towards him. He ripped out his FN Five-seveN, nicknamed to his chagrin his 'Cutlass', from his belt and fired from the hip as if he was a gunslinger in an old Western. The bullets tore through his attackers head sending him crashing to the ground. He sent a couple more shots, this time aiming down his pistols sight, towards the one of the many doors and windows that the enemy was pouring through in droves. He ducked his head beneath a stream of bullets, slamming back behind cover with a curse. His quickly exchanged his pistol for his rifle, a tan coloured SCAR-H with an extended barrel with a long muzzle break that had been burned neochrome, deciding that 7.62x51 NATO rounds would be a better welcome present for the many guests they were receiving. Just above the hand that was currently gripping the stubby vertical foregrip on the rifle were two tattoos. One was the XARC logo, the other was its inspiration. A pirate style Jolly Rodger. Separating them was his callsign and nickname, one he hated so much but he would never admit it.

Blackbeard.

"We got this, just don't get coc-!"

He was suddenly interrupted by the only non-XARC member there that was on their side firing his M4's under-barrel M203 Grenade Launcher at one of the windows, scattering the Lie both alive and dead like bowling pins. The only surviving member of the CTM's (Counter Terrorism Militia) Delta Team, the other 6 members dead, still with blood steeping from their wounds. But despite his team being lost, he remained as he always did; cool, calm, and with no mercy to the terrorist responsible for the death of his parents. His M4 clicked empty and he dropped it, the sling catching after a foot and it dangling from his vest, grabbing his dead comrades HK416D off the ground and continued shooting as though nothing had changed. A shot from the enemy hit his cover, sending up a small shower of grit and stone that pinged against his helmet, scratching the matte black surface. Not that he minded, not only did that mean the bullet missed him, but he had already scratched the helmet from his on doing. More specifically, his name on it with his knife.

Sanders.

"There's certainly a lot of them huh?"

"Fucking right Ben," The man sharing his cover grunted in reply. "Almost too many."

He continued to pick off the approaching insurgents, his custom black and red L85A2 still beating a viciously fast rhythm in single shot. Always double-tapping, confirming that kill.

Just like him and Archie had taught Kyle before they vanished.

Archie had trained him to keep calm under pressure, as well as his superiors and PT coaches back when he was in the British Royal Marines, back where he had earned the nickname he still carried to this day.

Bootneck.

He was glad he had adjusted his plate carrier before they dug themselves in for the onslaught of Lie soldiers. Some would say that comfort is far from a priority but he always adjusted his kit before a job. He blamed the murky Afghanistan FOB where he had spent more than year digging up the determined yet dying groups of Al Queda. That group was now gone, their Holy War lost. ISIS had been quick to follow. But the Lie was here now. Here as in, a soldier of theirs was charging at him with a frag grenade in his hand.

"Oh shi-"

Bootneck dropped to his knees, raising his arm the insurgent. Using the momentum built up by the terrorist, his rising arm sent the attacker flying right over him, the grenade now loose on the floor. Cotton, who turned his head to examine the noise, spotted the grenade and sprinted to it, ignoring the rounds flying past him as if they were merely insects. Reaching the grenade, he spun on his left foot, bring the right one flying round like a football player, kicking the grenade right at a piece of cover used by the Lie.

"Return to Sender, assholes!" he yelled as he dropped down, crawling back to his cover like a demented four legged spider. Bootneck felt himself get dragged back behind cover by Ben, the CTM soldier surprising him with his quickness to stick his neck out for the men he had only recently met. The terrorist had been knocked unconscious by the miniature scuffle, but had his lights put out permanently as Ben dropped the British Contractor and put a single shot from the 416 to the insurgents head.

"What the fuck are we still doing here?" yelled Blackbeard, his concern for his ammo growing larger and larger.

"I dunno man! But maybe Ace wil-" Bootneck started to say before they heard a weird whirring noise. A high-pitched whine suddenly assaulted his ears. The whine became a scream, then his vision turned into a horribly bright white, forcing him to shut his eyes.

As a result, he didn't see the building, his friends, and his enemies be engulfed into a rainbow of colour... before everything went black.

 _Take my hand, deep inside there's a stormy sky_

 _And I wonder, what's on the other side?_

 **You know what this website hates? British spelling. Flower of Scotland, motherfucker.**

 **Anyway, the song here is 'Gravity' by Windrunner. It seemed appropriate and Vietnamese Prog Metal deserves more love.**

 **Attack of the OC's! Thoughts? For the submitters, I hope I did you all proud.**

 **No, Blackbeard is not Ex-God Current-Bitch Blackbeard from Siege. He's just a dude. OC. Chill peeps.**

 **I'm heading off. Updates should now be more frequent! If any of you want to message me with story arc's, more OC's, help or anything, please do.**

 **Thanks a lot. Merry Christmas and Happy new Year.**

 **-Monster**


	12. Chapter 11

**Sup. Operation Velvet Shell huh? It's pretty awesome.**

 **I need to try get better with these updates, but its getting to the point where I'm not liking what I'm uploading, and that's when stories start to die.**

 **Its concerning. I don't want to let my readers down.**

 **So, if any of you want to submit more OC's, story ideas, or add me on Steam and message me whenever I'm playing Siege to stop and write more. Every little helps.**

 **Also, Reviews...**

 **Guest/Nightwing: Cheers. I was beating myself up for that mistake.**

 **Thankyou to everyone for the 'Good Story' reviews and messages, it's always nice.**

One For The Money-Chapter 11

The Beacon Gun range was an interesting complex, long metal corridors filled with hologram style targets, the ultraviolet light covering the area in digital Grimm targets where Kyle usually saw cardboard or steel cutouts of an AK wielding terrorist. It was like he had stepped into the Star Wars universe, half expecting a blue-hologram of Emperor Palpatine to appear and tell him that Luke Skywalker's was still alive or some shit.

He was content with just hopping between two universes though.

The multiverse theory can go screw itself cause this shit was already complicated enough, not to mention the lack of knowledge or explanation. He was paid to shoot people, not get blown up by some dirty bomb surrounded by magic crystals - which he had now learned was Dust, only raising more questions as to how the White Lie got their hands on some - only to wake up in some land of make believe, surrounded by people with natural magic shields on their bodies that could heal wounds but somehow the weapons from his universe could destroy them instantly and al-

Ah, mindfuck.

Now, paid to shoot people, that was his thing. And as he raised the M24 Sniper Rifle to his cheek, adjusting the scope to the distance the far-away Grimm in the simulator, it was a lot easier to contemplate his situation. Somehow, it was easier to think when he was shooting, or even in close proximity with a gun. Everything kind of stopped, giving him more control over himself. Of course, when the bullets start flying back his concentration would be directed to the more dire matters at hand but somehow the rifle in his hands helped him calm down. He wondered what that meant for himself... meh, whatever. He was a soldier. Not a therapist.

"Hey, Kyle right?" said a voice. He turned his head round to see the Blonde haired guy from that team that was friendly with team RWBY. He was wearing very casual gear in Kyle's opinion for a 'Experienced Combat School Student', jeans and a hoodie with armour similar to that of lightweight motocross gear.

"Yeah... Jaune right? What's up?"

Jaune scratched his head awkwardly. "Uhh... well... I couldn't find anyone else and-"

"Let me guess. You were wondering around, saw me and wondered what I was doing?"

"Yes," Jaune replied, hanging his head. To be honest, Kyle kind of liked him. He seemed like an okay guy, it a little inexperienced and somewhat unsure if he belonged where he was, for one reason or another. Kyle felt a serious sense of similarity, of deja vù. "Also, you have all these weapons around... and I kinda want your help."

Jaune gestured to all the weapons surrounding Kyle. Carter had assigned him to check up all the firearm based supplies recovered from the White Lie in their 'arrival' as well as the gear from the attack on The Safe. There was a lot to go through, many types of weapons of various manufacturers, types, families, caliber and so on. Kyle would be annoyed if he didn't enjoy playing at being a gunsmith.

"My help?" Kyle asked, somewhat confused. "Look man, I don't know what I could do to help you but-".

"I need a gun," Jaune said, interrupting Kyle. "All my teammates, all of team RWBY, have something in their loadout that is a ranged weapon. I just have a sword and shield. What if their is a situation where I need a gun and I don't have one?"

Kyle frowned. "And you came to me? Look man, the guns I use kill people, require a fuckload of maintenance, and we have no idea what they do to the Grimm. Talk to Ruby, talk to one of the gun-techs in the armoury, don't talk to me. I can't help you."

Jaune went to reply, but slowly closed his mouth, hanging his head. He wanted to say to Kyle the truth, but really didn't know how to say it.

'You can't get it wrong if it's the truth'... he raised his head again, the time with a look in his eyes that surprised Kyle.

"What if the Lie attack again? What if there is a situation where we need one of these people-killing guns and we don't have them? We have no idea how Dust-Ammunition affects people like them, what if it's useless? If I can do something, anything, to protect my team, my friends, I will do it."

Kyle stared at him for a few moments, before turning around to the targets again. There was a few more moments of silence before he walked towards the range, picking up a Dark Gray Tar-21 X95 Bullpup Rifle from the pile of rifles and setting it in a comfortable firing position. He eyed a hologram of a Beowolf, the image of it still but in high detail, the eyes glowing blue and its face in one of a snarl. He sent a single shot down-range, the side-venting compensator on the rifle spitting the flash on either side. Very nice recoil, easy to deal with. He clicked the fire-selector to full-auto and sent a quick three-round burst to the target. The rounds hit the target right in the head, right where he aimed. Spread of about an inch or two. Still pretty decent for being only 20 meters away. After all, he had just burst fired a gun that used 300AAC Blackout ammunition, the modern American subsonic version of the 7.62x35, designed for the modern suppressed M4 or AR-15. The kick was there, definitely there, but the new X95 variety of Tar-21 rifles made it very nice to handle. The sight was a EoTech Holographic Red Dot with a flip-up 3x magnifying scope directly behind it. Good for CQC or medium-to-long range engagements. The rifles full polymer body meant it was light weight, durable and easy to grip. The bullpup, lightweight, ambidextrous design meant that the gun was very 'usable', and fairly easy to learn how to use. But he felt like it could do with something more...

Idea.

He placed the rifle back down on the bench and turned to Jaune. He pointed to one of the rifle he had placed in the 'Checked' pile, an M16A3 with an ACOG scope and, more importantly, an under barrel M203 Grenade Launcher.

"Fetch me that gun there Jaune. We're gonna try build you something of the likes that Remnant has never seen before."

Jaune's face lit up as he realised Kyle had had a change of heart and he smiled. "Like what?"

"A weapon capable of taking on any enemy. Grimm, Humans, Vehicles, anything the bad guys can throw at you. Now, less talking, more guns."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Weiss was walking along the corridor towards the schools lunch hall. She had just received a message from her sister, saying that they needed to talk, but Weiss already knew what the discussion would be about.

Her father had already messaged and called her multiple times, but she had ignored every attempt at contact and made no effort on her own to converse with the man. She simply felt no need to. All he did was berate her, despite the fact that she knew she was trying her hardest. Her team appreciated her enough for her to forget, at least temporarily, about her father.

He was very displeased to learn that she had not become the leader of a team, more than she was when Ruby had been placed at the head. To Weiss, the young red-haired Reaper had proved countless times that she deserved that position but her father would simply not have it. His 'precious daughter' wasn't in charge and that was 'unacceptable'. No matter what Weiss herself thought he felt. He 'knew what was best'.

He didn't know Team RWBY though. She did. He also didn't know about the Soldiers from a different universe who had weapons capable of killing the best aura-manipulators with a simple pull of a trigger.

Weiss was barely even sure if she believed it. Travelling dimensions? A world with no dust, Huntsmen or aura? A place where guns were dominant and swords, lances, axes, hammers and such were things of the past? A life over shadowed with the fear of a surprise terrorist attack killing hundreds, if not thousands, but no Grimm destroying towns or attacking a cities walls?

The thoughts nearly made her sick. And she was no stranger to heartache and misfortune, despite her 'prestigious' childhood. Her life filled with the fear of the White Fang, her fathers wrath because of said organisation and the nearly impossible dream held by her Sister and her that they could escape that life.

Nearly impossible.

"Weiss!" a voice called her name, causing her to turn around. Ruby. "You okay? I was calling you for a while..."

Weiss smiled at her team leader, hiding her thoughts from the younger girl. "I'm fine Ruby, just heading to get some lunch. Where are you off to?"

"Jaune called. Said he needed help at the range," Ruby replied excitedly. "He said that Kyle was helping him with some of the XARC guns and he needs help and, oh oum I just can't wait to see them all Jaune said they're are so many, rifles, shotguns, snipers, gre-"

"Ruby," Weiss said sharply, snapping the young girl out of her rant. They stopped and faced one another. "Calm down. Are you sure about this? That man, Kyle, is dangerous. You've seen first hand what he can do. Don't you th-"

"Weiss," Ruby cut in, speaking in her 'serious leader yet better friend' voice. "Remember when we met, and you thought I was useless?"

"...yes."

"I proved you wrong didn't I?"

"...yes."

Ruby smiled, starting to walk forward again slowly. Weiss followed her after a second. "Never judge a book by it's cover Weiss. Yeah, what we saw him do was... horrible... to say the least... but there is more to him than that. Or at least, he is the lesser of two evils."

Weiss thought about this for a moment before smiling. She had lots of respect for Ruby and her leadership, always proud of the younger huntress whenever she reinforced that respect. True, things hadn't been all sunshine and roses with Ruby, pardon the pun, but she had always put in 100% in every task after her talk with Ozpin on Day 1 and was always ready to put the rest of her team before herself no matter the situation.

If Ruby thought that helping the XARC was a good choice, no matter how naive she may appear to be, Weiss would follow her. With an open-mind of course, but she would definitely follow.

"Where are you meeting Jaune? I might as well come along, see if I can help at all."

Ruby was skipping along the near-empty corridor happily, her hood and cloak swaying out behind her. "The Gun Range. I just messaged the others, they're meeting up there too. Nora seemed overly happy to help."

Weiss frowned. "Why?"

"Something about high explosives?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Pyrrha and Nora were walking towards the door marked 'Gun Range', hesitantly because of the rapid gunshots coming from behind the door.

"Uh, Pyrrha... isn't that-"

"The noise the weapons from 'those people'? Yes Nora," Pyrrha replied to the gingers question. "But why would Jaune want us here? And to bring your weapon? I'm not sure I like this."

Nora stepped forward and pushed the door, letting the light flood into the darker hallway of the nearly empty range. And the two soul shooters causing all the noise were...

Jaune and Kyle. Both wielding large automatic weapons that made Pyrrha cringe with the noise. Kyle was burst firing a strange rifle that was a shape Pyrrha thought was very odd, while Jaune's larger and louder gun was beating out its own vicious rhythm, flooding the Grimm targets with flickering fire and spat metal. The noise continued for a few more seconds before it stopped to the sound of... Jaune laughing happily and Nora crying out in the same manner, causing the two shooters to turn around. Jaune lowered the large gun to the ground and stood up, stretching.

"Hey guys. Thanks for coming."

"Jaune-y!" cried out Nora, jumping towards the two males in sheer excitement. "That. Was. Awesome! What even was that?"

"That was..." Jaune frowned in confusion. He turned to his companion who had turned back around to write something on his scroll. "Kyle, what was that?"

"That was a Stoner Mk23 LMG. Gas-operated, belt-fed, air-cooled, the good, the bad, also a little ugly," Kyle stated, grinning at the large weapon. "Dishing out some heavy rounds like a world heavyweight champion dishes out right hooks. Not exactly stealthy, definitely a challenge, but it's some serious firepower to have on your side. Not really my thing, but you sure enjoyed it mate."

Jaune awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "Well... kinda... I mean... yeah... it's pretty cool."

Pyrrha stepped forward to pat Jaune on the shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with enjoying using a weapon. Milo and Akouo still give me enjoyment. They may be weapons, but having one to call your own is exciting in its own way."

Jaune smiled back at his partner and went to reply but stopped and listened to a horrible sound.

Kyle giggling like a mad man. Uncontrollably. Suddenly.

"T-That's great," he managed to say eventually between giggles. "Where I'm from, being happy with owning and using guns makes you a killing psychopath. But here? It's completely normal."

The 3 members of JNPR that were present couldn't find words to reply. To them, weapons were used to kill soulless monster of darkness in an attempt to save the people of Remnant. For Kyle, his weapons were to kill people, that thought still very alien to them. Did that make him the soulless monster? They weren't exactly sure.

"So what does that make you?" said a voice that made them all turn round, reviling Weiss and Ruby standing in the doorway. It was the former who had spoken. "A killing psychopath?"

Kyle stopped for a few moments, seriously considering the question. A few moments past, and he pulled his pistol from its holster on his belt. The turned back to the range, walked up and and pressed some buttons on the console screen.

TargetsOptionsCustomDataFromExternal Device.

He pulled out his phone from his pocket and placed it on the terminal, for some reason it was fully functional with all scroll technology, like speakers, projectors, and the digital range.

 _"How convenient"_

He opened up the photos folder and scrolled down until he found a picture that would work and selected it, the image now appearing on the range. The other occupants of the room gasped.

The target that appeared had been one that Kyle was used to, not so much his companions. That of a human target. The difference between the crudely drawn shape that Dawn had sketched in the classroom earlier that day and the one currently on the rage was it's realistic detail, all the way from the classic looking AK47 being 'aimed' at the shooter, to the woodland camouflage on the uniform to the balaclava hidden face, only showing piercing eyes that glared forward towards the enemy. Towards Kyle.

He methodically loaded his weapon and adopted a 'ready stance': head leveled, knees flexed, and body leaning forward. He raised his Glock, the feeling so natural and familiar. Left hand supporting the right, with the right hands index finger sitting on the trigger guard until he was ready to fire. Then again, he was ready to fire as soon as the gun was raised. He was just making a long and serious show for his audience.

He sent a double-tap down to the target, the two thuds echoing around the room, filling the air with noise. The two rounds impacted on the targets chest, around the heart and lungs. That would most likely kill any hostile target, but Kyle wasn't done and he sent another two rounds down range. One hit the throat, the other direct centre of the targets heads. His own take on the classic Military Training situation known as the Mozambique Drill. He couldn't stop himself from Double Tapping the targets head.

Two to the Chest, Two to the Head. Mike Rousseau should be proud, AK wielding terrorists be scared. Kyle turned back round towards Weiss, finding strange satisfaction in her fearful face.

"It's Weiss right?"

She paused, not wanting to test him. "...Yes."

"If I went and put my pistol to your team leaders head, what would you do?" The team leader in question seemed slightly shocked by the question but kept composed. Weiss didn't answer, or if she was she was interrupted by Kyle continuing. "You wouldn't expect it. You never do. I've looked it up. Since everyone in Remnant has an aura, it's a small chance that a human kills another human without using weapons utilized for killing humans and since those are not that common, humans killing other humans incidents are rare. Me, I do it a lot. I was averaging at about... 4 or so a week." There was a long silence.

"Why were you doing it?" asked Pyrrha, the red headed champion used to fighting only until Aura was depleted, not until her opponent was dead. Honestly, she just wanted to understand. "What's your motive? What keeps you going?"

Kyle turned her head to her, feeling somewhat happier that compared to Weiss, Pyrrha looked more curious than angry or scared. He looked over her shoulder and smiled at the door, causing everyone to turn round and see what, or who, he was looking at. It was Dawn, her arm still in a sling but a proud smile on her face. She must have been watching for a while.

"Each other," she said, looking at them all, students and solder, individually. "The people you are willing to fight and die with and for, is what makes you wake up everyday. Ready to put aside your personal struggles and issues just in case there comes a moment where you need to save the person standing by your side, your weapons pointed in the same direction."

"We are not a team because we are in the same squad," stated Kyle, bringing the attention back to him. "We are a team because there is trust. I've done quite a few ops with Dawn and Archie, going out and helping to win a war. And I know that if I ever end up looking into the abyss, one of them will be beside me. Before, I was with the Royal Regiment of Scotland. And when I thought I was going to be welcomed? All I received was blank stares, cold shoulders and insults. With the XARC... I felt more at home then I ever had in my life."

"Plus," Dawn started, walking forward to Kyle and taking the Glock from his hand. She raised it towards the same target and started unloading the gun unto it. Rapidly firing shots, all of them hitting the centre chest area despite her not too bothered currently about a tight shot group. After a few seconds the slide jammed back, signalling the magazine was empty. In the same moment, Dawn flicked the gun to the side, ejecting the empty mag quite forcefully, and crouched down. She placed the Glock behind her right knee, bent at an angle as she was crouching, letting her one good hand become free so she could grab a new magazine from the table in front of her which was swiftly placed into the handgun. She then gripped the receiver and raised her foot to work the slide and chamber a new round. All in less than 4 seconds. Her arm was raised again and a few more shots were put down range. She stopped firing after that, relaxing her stance and turning back to the Beacon students with a giggle. "I'm pretty fucking awesome and Kyle should be happy that he is lucky enough to work with me."

Kyle laughed at her speech, whilst the others remained a bit dumbfounded. Ruby was literally stood there with her mouth hanging open. Never had she seen someone shoot and reload a gun whilst they had an arm in sling, some people found things like that difficult with both hands. She was happy that her fellow red head was friendly to herself and her friends, because she seemed very capable of handling herself when it came to human combat.

"But, that's not why we're here," Dawn stated, handing Kyle back his handgun, which he placed back on his holster on his belt. "Why are we here Kyle?"

Kyle grinned, looking around the room at the others as he did. "We're going to do some work, then we're going shopping."

"Can we go to a music shop? I want to see this Universes hardcore scene."

"No, last time we done that you almo-"

"I'll decide what we do you jumped up little shit."

Ruby stepped forward and approached Kyle, an eager yet hesitant look on her face. "Kyle, would it be okay if... you let me use your gun. Please?"

Without hesitation, Kyle brought his Glock out again, spun it round half-way on the guard so that the grip was towards Ruby and gave her a smile. She suspected that he somewhat enjoyed passing on his skills on knowledge to others but suspected that he wouldn't let it show.

"Only because you asked nicely."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

There was many things that Rachael Castellao had been called in her life. 'Ma'am'. 'Sergeant'. 'Lady Luck'. 'Lady Death'. Both 'The Finest' and 'the most second-rate' Soldier to be produced by the United States Military.

'Ace'.

But there was one thing she hated being called by anybody. A name that brought back all the rage and torment of her childhood, one that made her feel like justifying ripping off the head of one of the XARC's enemies. The word? Bitch.

"What you gonna do, bitch?"

The 'brave' White Lie soldier before her aiming a Model 870 shotgun towards her face had just called her that name. It was very unlucky that her P229 was currently empty, the matte grey pistol currently resting in her leg holster.

But it wasn't her that was unlucky, it was him. There was a reason people called her Lady Luck.

And Lady Death.

Rachael stared at the man, her smile hidden under the green and black shemagh that covered all of her face besides her eyes. They were covered by tinted shooting glasses, hiding her eyes that were currently shining bright with anticipation.

The Liar was still pointing the shotgun at her. Behind him was some kind of explosive device that was fitted inside a black leather suitcase, much like the ones that Mr Xavier carried when transporting cash to some rather 'shady' individuals. No one ever said that working as a PMC was a boring or uneventful job. Just look at her current situation. Now for the main attraction...

She very visibly glanced to the left of the terrorist, turning her head sharply to emphasise that there was something there. Something that the insurgent would turn to look at and realise that he had made a horrible mistake.

There was nothing there, but now Lady Death was upon him.

Rachael rushed forwards and slightly to the right of the man, the opposite way as to where he was looking. She lead with a high kick for his right wrist, making good contact and causing his grip to lessen on the shotgun. As her leg went back down, she used the momentum to grab the 870 and pull it towards her out of the terrorists hands and then slam it back right into his face. His nose crunched, the brutal snap very loud in the small room. His tumbled back, tripping over the bomb itself and making him hit the ground hard, cupping his nose and roaring into his hands angrily and in sudden severe pain.

"You broke my nose you bitch!"

"Oops," was all Rachael said, half-cocking the shotgun to see if a shell was chambered. One was, the small red cylinder bringing a smile to her hidden face. She aimed the gun at the mans unarmoured crotch and pulled the trigger. "I'm sure that was worse though."

If the screams were anything to go by, she was correct. A large bloody mess the size of a dinner plate had replaced the mans genital region from which dark red blood was pumping from in horrible near-black rivers. He chocked on the same liquid for a few moments, gasping for breath and life before... silence. The sudden appearance of it nearly made her stop and regret her decision. But that feeling was stamped out by her much larger devotion to the XARC, her family, friends, colleagues, and her substantial pay.

"Another one for the money."

She crouched down at the suitcase, humming and hawwing over the wires and buttons on the device. A small and old pay-as-you-go looking mobile was connected to the wired, which she hesitantly but skillfully removed from the device, hopefully taking away the ability for someone to arm the device. She stood again and walked to go back outside and join her team, hoping that all the remaining XARC and CTM operators were still alive, and then get one of the experts to give the device a once over. She rushed to the door, still with the 870 in her hands... where she then stopped.

What was that beepin-

"Fuck!"

And then her vision lit up brighter than the sun.

 **Fun Fact, the Tar-21 X95 varient with 300AAC is actually a thing. Its not been released for the public yet, but some gun ranges in America do have guns using 300AAC. Quite a modern concept. Hurry for the 2nd Amendment.**

 **Un-Fun Fact, as someone from the UK who has never used any guns higher than .22lr in caliber, I don't have extensive gun experience. I have a good amount of knowledge, but mistakes will be made. And for that, I apologise.**

 **-Monster**


	13. Chapter 12

**Yeah, I've been playing less Siege. After getting fucked by Free-to-Play fucks and losing my Platinum 2 rank, I focused my attention on writing a NEW STORY, this story, and Wildlands. Expect more stuff soon boiz.**

 **Someone messaged me asking about my favourite gun. There's too many to mention, but I am trying my best to include them in this story.**

 **Hope you all enjoy the chapter, see y'all in the next one.**

One For The Money Chapter 12

"Are we sure this is a good idea?"

"Come on Weiss, these people aren't bad. We just need to get to know 'em."

"Perhaps. But I'll be keeping an open mind Yang."

Ruby signed quietly. It was the start of a new day, one with no classes. After the work yesterday, which involved lots of guns and explosions and was probably the best day in her gun-loving life, they had all made up a list of what Teams RWBY, JNPR and some XARC 'contractors' would be going into Vale to purchase.

'Contractors'. 'PMC's'. 'Privatised Military and Security Counselling'. They had many answers of what they were and what their job was, but every answer just made Ruby more confused and curious. After giving her a shot of a gun yesterday, which he referred to as an 'MP5A2' she had asked Kyle if he was a soldier. To which he replied;

 _"Uh, kind of. We're a far cry from those Patriotic 'Heroes' you see on TV, but we're definitely not 'Evil Mercenaries'. Think of us as... Soldiers with Second Chances."_

This made Ruby extremely curious. But she was ready to bide her time, waiting for the right moment to be able to ask him about his life; His past, what led him here, his regrets... what made him 'him'.

But for now, they were going shopping. For ammo and grenade launchers.

The idea was that they could possibly find a type of Dust Bullet or Explosive that was capable of working with what they were calling 'Earth Based Weaponry'. And vice versa. Ruby understood about fighting against other people, but not as far as to kill them. That was going to be one of her many questions for Kyle. She just hoped that her asking wouldn't effect him too much, but she was also worried of what his answer might do to her. She wasn't stupid; she was aware of how naive she was sometimes. About how she thought that the world should all unite together as one to take on a mutual enemy. For them, it was the Grimm. But she knew deep down that's not how the world works. Foreign policy, military disputes and just down to simple disagreements between councils and kingdoms. The world and its people were made to fight and bicker.

But that's why she was here at Beacon. To learn. And she was ready to learn everything she needed to make Remnant a better and safer place. And to satisfy her own curiosity and concern for Kyle.

Currently her and the rest of Team RWBY were walking towards the landing pads to meet JNPR, Kyle, Dawn and maybe some other XARC if they weren't busy. They knew that Carter and Archie were in talks with Ozpin and Ironwood to make better lessons more tailored to what they could provide, but maybe there would be other XARC members there.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kyle pressed the button on his knife, ejecting the black steel blade from its casing. It's curved edges always able to hold his attention, making him remember why he always put his life on the line.

His mum and sister. Who bought him this knife. Who didn't want their son/brother to be risking his life everyday for a decent paycheck and always welcomed him home with tears and open arms. He glanced at his colleagues who were with him today. Dawn and Dunk. Two near-polar opposites. Crazy Red Head Marks(Wo)man from France who spent her days off listening to rock music of all kinds and practicing her photography. Inspiring Joker who loved to blow shit up who had a loving family waiting for him back in Ireland. People who when he met them, thought they would turn theirs gun on him if the price was right. Now? Not in his worst nightmare.

"Guys?". They looked up, curious eyes. "I want to talk about-"

"Syria," finished Dunk. "Fucking called it. Dawn you owe me 5 lien."

" _Va te faire foutre,_ I don't have 1 lien. Put in on my tab."

Kyle was a bit confused at how they knew what he was going to ask to talk about, but decided to move past it. He learned very quickly that his fellow contractors knew the set paths a new member had when joining a PMC and also that Dawn was a genius at reading people.

"Yeah. Syria."

"Fucking shitshow," Duncan declared, sighing as fiddled with his headsets wire, the device itself resting around his neck. "One mess after another with that country. The Lie is just another story for that place, another stain on what is, if you look past all the blood, bullets, bodies, all that shit, it actually a beautiful country."

Kyle swallowed, unsure if he should ask the question that was always on his mind. Unsure how his friends would react.

"Do you think we're making a difference?"

Their response was to look at him for a few seconds, then look away again. Dunk continuing to toy with his wire, Dawn examining the tattoo on his right wrist; that of a modified version of the crying girl from _Les Miserables_ done by Banksy. Still a girl crying with a torn dress, but also accompanied by a few cans of Tear Gas and a torn French flag in the background. Another story she had yet to tell lack of clear answer tore up Kyle, regret filling him. But before he could say anything, he was interrupted by RWBY and JNPR's arrival.

"Hey guys," Jaune said, noticing the tension after he had finished speaking and his happy face faltered. "Is... everything alright?"

Silence followed for a few seconds.

"Don't ask that question," Dunk said, looking at Kyle with an expressionless face, the newcomers confused by his serious tone. "Because you really might not like the answer." He turned and walked towards the waiting Bullhead that was taking them down to Vale. Dawn watched him go, then turned towards the two teams.

"Hey guys, sorry about that. We were just having a little talk. Kyle here... said something he didn't know he shouldn't have. But it's fine, we're all good here. Now, lets go buy something expensive." She grinned, and turned towards the vehicle laughing.

Kyle's eyes followed them for a few seconds. He hoped Dunk wasn't actually angry with him, but he doubted he actually was. He was a man that was able to remain calm whilst searching for and disarming bombs that could level entire zip codes. He'd have to speak with him later about it. He bent down and picked up the bag that he brought with him, containing a few guns of different calibers - Archie's MP5A2, a AR-15 (more specifically a LVOA-C) and a Saiga 12 that had been 'borrowed' from the Lie - that weighed, as his Mum used to say about his backpack he had when part of 2Scots, " _an absolute feckin' tonne_ ". He grunted under the weight, shifting the bag so both hands could hold it when it was suddenly taken from his hands. He looked to see Yang casually holding the bag in one hand, a cheeky grin on her face. Kyle made a very fake sad face and done a mock whimper sound with his mouth.

"But now I don't look like a man having the lovely lady carry my bag!"

Yang laughed his reply as they walked along towards the waiting Bullhead and two XARC members. "Oh, so you think I'm a lovely lady?"

"Credit where credit is due," he said, somewhat pleased to see Yang blush. "Besides, I need to get on your good side if I'm going to get you to help me here."

The plan was simple, first they would look into getting some new items of clothing for the XARC members who had all written up requests or were currently present. Then, find the nearest Weapons Store and get to work. After talking with Ozpin and Ironwood, they had agreed on a certain amount of money for the contractors to use at both stores, as well as Ironwood having a representative meeting them at the weapons shop in the city. Kyle had been given her contact number in his scroll, only saved as 'Spec.S'. He guessed it was Weiss's older sister.

"Why would I be able to help you?" Yang asked, tone both curious and tipping on the edge of innuendo. Unfortunately, he wasn't giving her that satisfaction.

"Well, I can guess that you would know the locations of quite a few clothing stores in the city, no?"

"Yeah, I can help with 'Operation Make-Over."

"Also, you're the only person here that uses a shotgun and I have one with me today in the bag you're carrying. So I'm hoping for expert advice on Dust shells and all that shit."

Yang turned to him and done a crude salute with her free hand. "Yes Captain, I won't let you down."

"I'm only the rank of Private. At ease Xiao Long."

They both laughed a bit as Yang relaxed and they kept walking. As they were going along, someone they didn't recognise was walking their way, until he saw them and walked in front of them. Glaring at Kyle. The group stopped and Kyle's hand instinctively went towards his belt, where his Glock was. There was some moments of silence.

"Can we help you?" Yang asked. The person, a tanned, black haired individual stared at Kyle still and ignored Yang. His hand started moving towards the sword on his belt, his eyes literally red with anger. Kyle's response went right with XARC protocol; don't instantly act but don't fuck around. His Glock came out and was raised to a point of readiness, but not actually pointed at the individual. The teenager stopped moving. Two people, one with 'interesting' hair wearing a dress and a black skinned teen wearing a Jazz Music style suit walked up so that they were on either side of their near-attacker.

"We don't want any trouble," said the male newcomer. "We'll take our friend and leave, just let us-"

"You make me sick!" shrieked the unknown assailant. He was shaking, his weapon now in his hand. Kyle found himself raising his handgun to aim at the person, moving forward slightly to position himself in front of Yang and the others. Could he take this guy? What if his friends also became hostile? Could he take them do? What weapons did they all have? The three of them were at a distance of about 8 metres. Mostly likely too far and plentiful for his to finish the job with his Glock before they retaliated. The boy started to walk forward towards Kyle, who decided that enough was enough.

"Stop!" he yelled, getting the attention of Dawn and Dunk who turned around. "I don't know why you are being hostile towards me, but know that I will put you down if you remain that way." There was a few moments of brutal silence. Kyle swore he saw a tear slide down the cheek of the boy he was facing off. But before it could get past that part of his face, he turned and stormed off, his friends close behind. For the briefest of moments, Kyle considered stopping one of them, asking what that was all about. Instead he clicked the Glock back into its holster and told the others to 'come on'. He knew walking away was the right thing. He'd solve this problem later.

They finally reached the Bullhead and found places to sit down, Kyle finding himself sitting between Yang and Ruby and across from Dawn. Everyone else was easily within earshot, the Bullhead empty besides them. The vehicle took off and made its way towards the city. There was silence for a few moments until Dunk looked at Kyle.

"Kyle, can I ask you something?"

Kyle looked back at him with a serious expression. "Go ahead."

"Do you think you made a difference in South Africa?"

Kyle froze. He really didn't want to think about that place. The boiling, blood filled hellhole that was the location of his first and final deployment as a member of the British Armed Forces. He felt his heart beat faster, his mouth felt a lot dryer and the worrying looks the two teams were giving him in the corner of his eye hurt him like nothing else.

Did he make a difference? Or did it make him different? Was it his fault so many di-

"I think you're a depressing fuck," exclaimed Dawn, drawing him out from his trance. "Come on, let's have fun. It's a new place, no war instantly when you leave the heli. Like that time in Turkey? With the hotel?"

This surprisingly made Kyle and Dunk laugh, their previous 'spat' now forgotten.

"Oh yeah? And you diving naked from the third floor window into the swimming pool?"

"Dunk bet me 20 dollars that I wouldn't. And I was drunk Kyle, we all were."

Kyle smiled at the memory, but quickly swapped it for one of mock annoyance to continue his dig at Dawn. "We got thrown out of the hotel, with you only wearing a towel, then we had to break back into the hotel which had armed guards I might add, not to mention the dogs, just so we could get you some clothes and our kit back."

"You enjoyed it, really."

"It was 3am!"

"You still enjoyed it."

Kyle went to argue more, but stopped as a fit of laughter took over. It was infectious, and soon not only were Dawn and Dunk laughing but so were some members of the two teams.

"Know what was funnier?" Duncan asked, baiting for a reply. "Kyle's 18th birthday."

Kyle hid his face behind his hands, groaning as Duncan and Dawn laughed again while the two teams waited for this story. Dawn decided to not keep them waiting too long but barely managed to hold off her giggles.

"We were at a training MilSim in Canada. It was a large collaboration of different special forces and private militaries around the world. It was Day 3 of the event, and the XARC were in 2nd place. Right behind the SAS team, which is British Spec Ops. We were all behind 'enemy lines', me, Kyle, Dunk, Archie, and our other teammates Cotton, Bootneck and Blackbeard. Our job was to ambush a GSG9, German Special Police Force, convoy. They were in 3rd place and we were to keep them there."

"It was literally the final stretch," continued Dunk. "If we didn't stop that German Convoy, it could easily have changed the end of the game. So much was relying on us. The reputation of the XARC was on the line. But..."

"Cotton had learned it was Kyle's birthday," Dawn laughed, as Kyle sighed heavily at the memory. "And nothing Kyle could say was stopping Cotton from celebrating with his new 'little brother'. Despite that fact that Kyle was still fairly new, and a bit of a dick back then."

"Wow," Kyle replied, actually starting to get slightly annoyed. He wasn't overly fond of this story. "That's really nice of... Actually yeah I was kind of a cunt back then."

"The problem," Dawn said, picking the story back up. "Was that it was getting close to go time. We had solid intel that GSG9 was going to be right on top of us in a few minutes. But now, Cotton was insisting on singing happy birthday, followed by cake and a 3-day bender. The rest of us, even grumpy assholes like Blackbeard, no offence, were focusing on the objective and trying not to laugh. Kyle on the other hand was a few seconds away from setting off a Blank Firing Grenade and 'killing' all 7 of us."

"We were all lying down in the mud," Dunk said, remembering. "It was snowing, it was freezing cold but Cotton managed to squirm up beside Kyle and give him a cuddle and start loudly singing happy birthday, which then turned into a silent mud wrestle, Kyle silently fuming with Cotton giggling like a child ten years his junior. Then, he pushed the younger boy away slightly, ripped open his rucksack and brought out a cake. Like, an actual cake. A muffin. He then got shot by a GSG9 scout that was part of the convoy we were meant to attack."

He stopped talking as Kyle and Dawn started laughing again, the some members two teams also laughing but not as much as the contractors. Weiss and Blake looked incredulous, dumb founded by this 'Cotton' and his little shenanigan.

"Still, we managed to stop the convoy," Kyle said, now finally speaking. "And then we won the event, followed by not only a 3 day bender like Cotton wanted, but also lots of opportunities and employments for the XARC, meaning lots of money for the company. So, it all turned out well in the end."

"Did you end up having cake though?", asked Nora, a serious look on her face. "What cake was it? Was it any good?"

Kyle laughed a bit before replying. "Well, after I had recovered from my 'adventure' with Cotton, I returned home to my new house and my sister made me a Vanilla Sponge. Then the next day, I was in a whole other country again, and the day after, fighting insurgents."

That brought a slight silence. Kyle frowned, realising he had probably said the wrong thing. Again. These people, the students, he doubted they were comfortable yet with a literal war being on you or your neighbours doorstep.

 _"Just another day."_

He saw something behind Dawn. A line of orange light. Heading right towards the vehicle, accompanied by a sudden rapid beeping from the cockpit.

"Incoming!" he yelled. "Brace!"

The rocket hit the vehicle right on its left engine, blowing it right off with a deafening explosion. The Bullhead began to spin on its rapid descent to the ground, its occupants being thrown about inside like rag dolls. Dawn hit the ground on her damaged arm, causing a sharp cry...

That was interrupted by the vehicle slamming into the ground.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jacob Ross stood passively and watched the Bullhead spinning towards the ground. Next to him stood one of his Lieutenants, holding a smoking M27 LAW rocket. The same weapon he had used back when he was on the 'other' side as an anti-vehicle weapon. Now, he used it to blow up the expensive things of civilians and his old military.

Funny how things turn out.

"Today," he said, gathering the attention of the people around him. 10 of his brothers. "We show the people a fraction of our strength. It will break them, yet it shall only be the calm before the storm." He smiled, one of actual happiness. His eyes however, were dark; those of a madman.

"Get to the crash site. No survivors. I want their bodies hanging from the council building by tonight."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A ringing in her ears. That was all Ruby heard. Her head pounded, and she saw flashes in her head of the train crash at the breach. She heard and felt her breathing start to become more prominent until she started shaking. It took a few moments to register that someone was shaking her. She opened her blurry eyes to reveal...

"Oh thank Christ," Kyle said. Blood dripped down from a gash on his cheek. "You all good Ruby?"

She went to reply but was interrupted but her sister picking her up and hugging her so tight she felt herself struggle to breathe for a few moments until Yang let her go. She realised she was inside the crushed ruins of the Bullhead that had been taking them to the city.

Jaune was checking the pilots. The pilots were dead. Kyle was checking his follow PMC's. They were... unconscious?

"Everyone good?" Kyle asked, getting their attention. "We need to get out of here befo-"

He stopped suddenly, whipping his head to the door of the Bullhead where a banging was being heard. Without hesitation, he dropped on one knee and pulled out his handgun, aiming right at the door. It opened to revea-

Kyle opened fire. Two shots from the gun rang out, the rounds striking the intruder.

The all-white, heavily armed intruder.

 **CLIFFHANGER!**

 **Hope you enjoyed it. Please review and enjoy the wait till the next one (#OFTMCh13-2018)**

 **-Monster**


	14. Chapter 13

**Sup. I'm taking a break from Siege to again. Operation Health has left me kinda bummed out, but it'll all be good in the long-run. Hopefully they reset the ranking system in the mean time cause this 10+/100- shit is fucking with my Plat.**

 **One For The Money - Chapter 13**

There was an abandoned building sitting in the centre of Menagerie. A large industrial building that was once owned by the SDC before that particular branch had relocated to The Safe in Vale. It loomed over the area, casting a large shadow over the nearby slums and makeshift part. People had requested for the council to knock the building down, disliking how it cast a dreary shadow over the area where they lived and their children liked to play.

A little money to the council from the SDC had caused it to stay however. Staying as a somewhat painful reminder of how Faunus, the majority of the people on the island, were treated by those better off and those who had power.

Nowadays, it was used as a place for refugees and also as an emergency hospital for the many incidents and unfortunate events that plagued the already damaged and, some believed, cursed area.

As if god had decided to add to the series of unfortunate events that had caused this building and particular day to be 'out of the ordinary', the building was filled with a blinding light. The soundproof windows caused no sound to be leaked out, otherwise the area would have been filled with a shrieking whine.

After a few moments, the light died.

Leaving a large number of newcomers in the building to lay on the cold ground.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The ballistic mask on the face of the Lie terrorist did little to protect him from two shots from less than a metre away. Blood flew out onto the ground behind him, his body crumpling to the ground. His fellow insurgents took less than a second to retaliate.

Kyle threw himself to the side, out of the line of fire from the terrorist, who had opened fire on the partially open door of the crashed vehicle. While Kyle was lucky enough to avoid the shots, Ren, who had been standing next to him, received a nasty bullet would to the arm. Nora screamed and dragged him back as Jaune slammed the sliding door shut. Rounds pinged off the door, causing them to shriek. Then there was silence.

"Put pressure on the wound," Kyle said, rushing over to Ren who was clutching his arm in agony. Kyle yanked it from his grip and examined it. "Looks like it went straight through..."

"Are you sure?" Weiss asked him skeptically.

"For fuck sake," Kyle said angrily. "I don't have time for your shit Weiss."

"How d-"

"Stop," Ruby said, strongly for someone in this situation. Her tone made everyone stop and pay attention to her. "We need to work together. Kyle, will he be okay?"

Kyle felt something inside him; a strange kind of joy knowing that someone felt in charge of this situation. "He'll need some work on his arm, but it's nothing fatal right now."

"Can anyone find a way out the Bullhead that's not the door?"

"The window," Blake said after a few seconds. "The front glass. Go out that, there's a shed or something. Probably used for maintaining the park."

"Is that where we landed?" asked Kyle. "We're not too far from Beacon. We need to get in contact, get a QRF to help us out." He looked around to confused faces. "...Quick Reaction Force. Back-Up."

"Alright," Ruby said, standing up. "Does anyone have a plan? None of us have our weapons."

Kyle walked to the cockpit. He didn't like the chances of everyone getting to the shed unscathed. Besides, Dawn and Dunk were both unconscious. He couldn't leave them. Think, think...

"Alright, I got an ide-"

He was uninterrupted by the door swinging open and 2 more masked intruders rushing in. Kyle raised his Glock, managing to hit the first Lie attacker with a shot to the head before the 2nd man, a White Lie member with a smiley face carved onto his mask managed to knock the pistol from his grasp, quickly followed with a smack to Kyle's face with his own gun, knocking him to the ground. Kyle wasn't unconscious like his colleagues but definitely beyond dazed. Smiley then turned to the nearest person, Jaune, raised his rifle, more specifically an AK-74M, and pulled the trigger.

Jaune raised his shield and charged the man. By some sort of Blacksmithing Genius or just plain luck not a single bullet penetrated the shield, allowing Jaune to ram it into Smiley, in turn knocking the gun from his grasp.

Followed by Jaune quickly swinging his sword and decapitating his attacker, sending Smiley's 'smile' to the floor of the Bullhead along with a fountain of blood and, a few moments later, his own vomit.

*2 years ago, somewhere in South America*

Ellison flew back, blood soaring from her chest as she screamed. Tracy attempted to turn the .50 to counter the sudden ambush but was quickly stopped. Stopped, as in he slumped down from the gunners position, the remains of his head falling back onto Kyle's lap.

The Humvee was suddenly rammed from behind, causing it to spin off the road and onto the dirt at the side of the road. The vehicle that had hit them stopped a bit after. It only took a few moments for Kyle to realise that the whole convoy, even the BTR, had been brought to a standstill.

He leapt to the door on the far side, facing away from the road, opened it and dropped to the outside ground. The mud his face was now pressed into was hot and claylike. The only thing on his mind right now was getting away from here.

Thanking his lucky stars that he had subconsciously grabbed a rifle that was sitting next to him, praying that it was his own, as he had dived out the vehicle and began to crawl. Behind him he heard Ellison and Dunbar protesting as they were dragged from the Humvee, Ellison crying out in pain from her wounds and anger from her situation, whilst Dunbar was crying out for mercy.

Mercy from his all-white wearing assailants.

*Present Day, Vale Eastern Park*

All Kyle heard was a violent ringing noise. His head hurt, reminding him of the time he had been riding his bike as a small child and been hit by a car that had tried to bump over a curb and onto the pavement to avoid potholes. The ringing was eerie and seemingly endless. And just like last time he heard...

Muffled shouting. That of panic mixed with the promise of violence.

"Kyle! Please! Wake up!"

Ruby. The red head. Someone that, for some reason, looked up to him. Was curious about him. He couldn't fathom why.

"Kyle! We need you! Wake up!"

Gun shots. They were in danger. He had to open his eyes. Get up. Could he?

 _"Course I can. After all, it's just another fucking day."_

He sat up, gripping Ruby's outstretched hand for support. He shook his head, refreshing it slightly. The door was open slightly, Blake and Pyrrha returning fire to the terrorists outside that were firing at them. Ne noticed that on the floor there was the White Lie member he killed... lying next to another that was missing his head.

 _"The fuck happened?"_

He pulled himself up, Ruby supporting him with Yang coming over to help.

First things first.

"Where's my bag?"

"Here," Yang said, as she had brought it over with her. She laid it down and he unzipped it, revealing the guns beneath. "What's the plan?"

Kyle stopped and thought for a few moments before taking out Archie's MP5. He clicked one of the mags into it, clicked it from safety to semi-auto and presented the gun towards Ruby.

"You used it yesterday. You know how it works, muzzle towards bad guy, your finger is your safety, it's on semi-auto but try to conserve ammo cause it only has one ma-"

"Kyle?! You can't be serious?" Yang cried out, looking at him with her eyes tinted slightly red. "Ruby is not fighting out there against tho-"

"Yang. Calm yourself," he replied, pulling out the LVOA-C for himself. Thankfully he brought a couple more mags for this gun, as more had been available. "I'm not sending your sister out there, I am giving her something so that she can defend herself until she can call in her weapon on the drop pod. Besides..."

He stopped talking as he bent down and removed the Saiga from the bag, presenting it to Yang.

"I'm giving this to you too."

Yang stared at him for a few moments, and then at the gun. She secretly somewhat liked how it looked. Sleek, modern, and to top it all off, it was a shotgun. She took it from his hands tenderly, as if it was made of Glass.

"You know how to use it?" Kyle asked her.

She looked at him again, her face Grimm. This is what being a hunter was about. Being put into bad situations and finding the best way out of them. This is the excitement she lived for. Was she scared? Kinda. But she had to protect her sister and her friends, she couldn't leave that job entirely to Kyle.

"Show me."

She had to be prepared.

*5 minutes later*

The plan was fairly simple.

Kyle and called Archie over his scroll, who was bringing the cavalry. Since Ironwood has been present at the time of the call, they were receiving back-up from Atlas's finest, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Kyle and Jaune were going to exit out the side door of the Bullhead, covered by smoke they had taken off the now-dead Lie soldiers. Dawn and Dunk had woken up but weren't in the best shape. They, along with Ren who with his arm would be fairly useless in a fight, were going to carried out through the front off the Bullhead through the front window. The enemy's attention was 'hopefully' going to be taken by Kyle and Jaune. Since they learned that Jaune's shield was pretty much bulletproof, being able to take a burst of fire from a 74M and not even be scratched, he was going to make sure Kyle got into a solid piece of cover before retreating back towards the Bullhead. Kyle, with his AR and AK, 3 mags for each gun, was going to keep the Lie busy while back-up got there. Meanwhile, the others were going to stay inside the bullhead protecting the dazed mercenaries - Dawn's shoulder had been further damaged and Dunk had a bad cut on his head that had nearly refused to stop.

The plan wasn't perfect. But it was the excitement, the danger that Yang lived for. And damn her if she was going to miss out on this moment, no matter the danger.

The Lie definitely meant business. And she, along with her team, old and new friends, was going to show them that they were going to receive a fight.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cotton opened his eyes and cringed. Worst. Hangover. Ever. What the fuck had he drank? And where did he get more? He definitely had to get his little brother to try so-

But Kyle was dead.

That thought brought him back to reality. The noise. The bright light. The fight.

He grimaced as he opened his eyes and sat up. He scanned his surroundings, taking in what seemed to be... a Beretta 93R aimed directly at his face from about 2 inches away.

"...Well that's just fucking typical."

 **I'm not liking how this arc is going, which is kinda ruining my will to write/live. if you feel like this and the next chapter is half-assed, I'm sorry. I'm trying here.**

 **I just love Cotton. Shoutout to the guy that submitted him. 3 U**

 **-Monster**


End file.
